On Wednesday, October 21, the Saint Xavier women’s soccer team went on the road to play Trinity Christian College. The Cougars kept it close with their conference foe, but the attack of the opposition was just to strong for them to overcome.
From the very beginning of the game, Trinity Christian applied constant pressure on the Cougars’ defense, recording multiple shots toward the net within the first 15 minutes of the game.
This pressure would pay off for them, as they would score in the 12th minute to take a 1-0 lead. Down 1-0 so early, it seemed as if the Cougars were going to be steamrolled by their conference rival.
But the Cougars’ showed toughness, responding to that goal by going on the attack themselves and trying to score a tying goal. In the 35th minute, they would accomplish just that, tying the game at 1-1 with a goal from Christina Sperando. That tie would be very short-lived though, as TCC would score a goal in the 37th minute to retake the lead at 2-1.
This would give them momentum and they would use said momentum to dominate the play and take a 2-1 lead into the half. Coming off a strong ending to the first half, Trinity Christian would continue to play well, going almost immediately on the attack and once again pressure the Cougars’ defense and goalkeeper Carly Bledsoe.
This would result in them adding onto their lead in the 51st minute and putting the Cougars down 3-1. Once again though, the Cougars would show their resiliency by scoring a goal in the 56th minute from defender Jillian Doan to make the score 3-2 with a lot of time left to play.
Just moments later, the Cougars had another prime opportunity to score, but the TCC goalie would make the save to preserve her teams 3-2 lead. In the 63rd minute, Doan would get another opportunity to score from the top of the goalie box looking to score her second goal of the game and tie the game for her team at 3-3.
But, her shot was saved by her opponent’s goalkeeper. This shot would be crucial because the Cougars would not have another opportunity to tie the game for the rest of its duration.
This was due to another goal scored by Trinity Christian in 84th minute that would make the score 4-2. A shot by Sperando would hit off the post in the 88th minute and the game would end soon after with the Cougars losing by the score of 4-2.
The Cougars would need to rebound quickly from this loss as they had another game later in the week. On Saturday, October 24, the St. Xavier women’s soccer team would play their second game of the week, this time at home against Calumet-St. Joseph.
This game was clearly different from the game earlier in the week as the Cougars’ defense and goalkeeper both had a terrific outing. The game started out well for the Cougars, peppering the opposition with shot after shot.
Unfortunately for the Cougars, they would not be able to score. This would give Calumet an opening to take the lead on the Cougars. A crucial moment in the game came in the 34th minute as the Cougars would commit a foul in the goalie’s box to give Calumet a penalty shot.
On the penalty shot, goalkeeper Carly Bledsoe would save the penalty shot, as well as a follow-up shot to keep the game tied at 0-0. With the two huge saves by Bledsoe, the Cougars would dominate the rest of the half by applying a lot of pressure to the Calumet defense with multiple shots fired on net.
Unfortunately, none of the shots would go in and the game would go into halftime tied at 0-0. The Cougars would take that momentum that they built at the end of the first half and duplicate it at the beginning of the second half, as they dominated the play early.
That domination would pay off in this half though, as midfielder Danielle Inzinga would score a goal in the 57th minute to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead. Now the Cougars’ defense would have to step up and perform well if the Cougars were to seek the end result they desired.
That result looked to be in question in the 84th minute, when the Cougars were given a red card, forcing them to play 10 against 11 for the rest of the game. With their backs against the wall, the Cougars would tighten up and not allow Calumet to even possess the ball in the final 6 minutes of the game to give themselves a 1-0 win.
Other than Inzinga, the star of the game had to be Bledsoe. She made six saves in a clean sheet effort, including the penalty shot save that kept the game tied at 0-0 in the first half.
With the split, the Cougars’ record stands at 5-11 with a 3-7 conference record. They will look to get their second straight win when they head to Bourbonnais to take the the 13th ranked Olivet Nazarene University soccer team.
John Romando
Senior Sports Editor
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