On Tuesday, October 27, the Saint Xavier women’s soccer team played against the 11th ranked team in the NAIA: Olivet Nazarene University. The Cougars were dominated by their opposition from the get-go as Olivet would score swiftly and often.
Just nine seconds into the game, the Cougars would find themselves down 1–0, putting the Cougars who were already in a tough spot in an even bigger hole. The Olivet Nazarene lead would grow in the seventh minute when they would score a goal off of a block shot to give themselves a 2-0 lead.
However, The cougars would attempt to make a comeback in this game with some opportunistic chances. But ONU’s goalkeeper would have herself a great first half, saving four shots on goal. Meanwhile, Nazarene’s offense were not slowdown, pressuring the Cougars’ defense as well as Saint Xavier goalkeeper Carly Bledsoe.
Besides the two goals that she allowed, which by the way were neither her fault, Bledsoe had a stellar first half, recording five saves in the first half. However, the Cougars would find themselves down 2-0.
An early corner kick for the Cougars gave the team some hope that the first half was just an aberration. However, this would be the only good thing that would happen for the Cougars for the majority of this half, as ONU would strike once again scoring in the 54th minute to extend their lead to 3–0. Just seconds later, on a consecutive shot, Nazarene would score again making the score almost impossible for the Cougars to come back from at 4–0.
At this point, Saint Xavier would replace Bledsoe with goalie Alex Perry hoping for a spark. They would get no spark, as ONU would score once again and take a dominating 5-0 lead in the 56th minute.
From there, the Cougars would make no noise as they would barely be able to even get shots towards the opposing netminder. Eventually, the game would mercifully come to an end and the Cougars would get dominated by the score of 5–0.
The lone bright, bright spot for the Cougars came from the play of Julia Gawlak, who would record a game high five shots on goal. The Cougars would have to put this game in the back of their mind, they would have to play one final game later in the week.
On Friday, October 30, the Saint Xavier women’s soccer team would play their final game of the season against Robert Morris University. The Cougars would lose the season finale thanks to two first half goals allowed.
Much like their game earlier in the week, the Cougars’ opponent would dominate the player early as they recorded multiple shots toward Saint Xavier goalkeeper Alex Perry. However, she would stop the majority of the shots that she faced early on.
However, the Cougars’ offense would once again not be able to find the back of the net. In fact, their first shot on goal came in the 22nd minute of the game. Right after their first shot on goal, they would allow Robert Morris to score in the 26th minute to give them a 1-0 lead.
Desperate to answer in their season finale, the Cougars would attempt to come back. However, the header by utility player Christina Sperando would be saved keeping the game at 1–0. This would prove to be pivotal, as in the 40th minute Robert Morris would score once again and extend their lead to 2–0.
The Cougars would find themselves down by the score heading into the final half of the season. In the second half, the Cougars would give it everything they had as they started out hot and peppered the Robert Morris defense and goalkeeper.
The Eagles would also be able to get some shots on, creating a back-and-forth type of second-half. This half was a fitting end to the Cougars’ season as much like in the majority of their games, they were close with their opponents, but would not be able to come away with a win.
Despite their hard effort to come back, the Cougars would still lose their season finale by the score of 2–0. Goalkeeper Alex perry finish the season strong, recording 10 saves in the final game of the season.
With the two losses, the Cougars’ season record would finish at 5–13 with a conference record of 3–9.
John Romando
Senior Sports Editor
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