SXU Athletics
The Cougar women’s soccer team got its first win of the season last Thursday on the road against Bethel College.
Saint Xavier had its best offensive output of the season with the 4-1 victory, which came on the heels of back-to-back 5-1 home losses to the University of Saint Francis (Illinois) and No. 7-ranked Davenport University.
The Cougars had managed two draws early in the season, but since that time they had fallen onto hard times, losing three in a row and driving their record to 0-3-2.
Saint Xavier started the scoring early with a tally in just the fourth minute of play. Senior midfielder Marissa Graves got the ball to sophomore midfielder Julia Gawlak. Gawlak, who finished the game with just the one shot on net, made it count and put Saint Xavier up 1-0.
In the 20th minute, the Cougars added their second score. Senior midfielder Monica Chavolla lofted a cross to sophomore forward Mariana Hoerr, who quickly buried the ball past opposing goalkeeper Mallory Conrad.
Saint Xavier did not take the foot off the gas pedal. Junior forward Lexi Cozzi scored in the 33rd minute off a pass she received from senior forward Anita Balciunas to all but put the game away in just the first half of play.
It was with that three-goal lead that the Cougars entered the second half, content to make the lead hold up and go home. That is what they did after a 50th-minute goal from Bethel College’s Kylee Shipley on a pass from Lindsey Seifert.
The Cougars responded by regaining the three-goal lead by reversing the roles of the players who combined to score the first goal.
This time, it was Gawlak who found Graves for the score, which put the game out of reach at 4-1 in the 88th minute of play.
It was the first time this season that the Cougars had managed to score any more than two goals in a single match. They were also accurate when they had the opportunity to shoot; of the 11 shots Saint Xavier managed, nine were targeted on goal.
Prior to that win, things had not been going so swimmingly. Scoring had been a chore, though the Cougars had been able to score in every game this season.
While Saint Xavier could not seem to muster any offense against Davenport University in the 5-1 loss, Davenport had all the offense it could possibly want.
The Cougars allowed Davenport to get off 23 shots in the 90-minute match. Of those 23, 18 were directed on goal. A keeper cannot face that many shots and be expected to stop them all.
Sophomore goalkeeper Alex Perry did her best, though, making 11 saves against Davenport. Still, Davenport tallied three times in the first half and added another pair in the second half for good measure.
Davenport forward Shameeka Fishley had six of Davenport’s shots, four of which were on target and two of which wound up in the back of the goal. She did all that damage in just 50 minutes of playing time.
Davenport also demonstrated its depth. Two goals and an assist came from the reserve players.
Saint Xavier’s lone goal came in the first half, after the Cougars were already down 2-0. Davenport was physical in its own end of the field and committed a foul in the box that led to a penalty kick.
Senior midfielder Morgan Graves did the honors of taking the penalty kick, and she buried from the penalty spot for her second goal of the season in the 32nd minute.
Davenport would score one more goal before halftime and another two in the second half to hand Saint Xavier its third consecutive loss.
The Cougars will move on now to conference play with a 5:30 p.m. romp against Holy Cross College on Saturday at Deaton Memorial Field.
That match is sandwiched between the homecoming football game and the men’s soccer game, so Saint Xavier fans should be plenty satisfied with the Saturday action.
Tim Carroll
Senior Sports Editor