SXU Athletics
The Saint Xavier women’s soccer team regained some of its form in a 5-0 win over Calumet College of Saint Joseph last Wednesday.
The win came on the heels of a tough stretch for the Cougars.
They had lost two in a row to ranked opponents. Trinity International University had gotten the best of Saint Xavier in a 6-1 walloping on Oct. 7 and Olivet Nazarene University had shut out the Cougars 2-0 on Oct. 11.
Saint Xavier bounced back from those tough road losses with a big-time day attacking the Calumet College Crimson Wave markers.
It was a breakout game for senior midfielder Danielle Inzinga, who scored two goals for the Cougars to lift them above CCSJ. Her two-goal game now gives her three on the season.
Inzinga was the first to score for the Cougars. She put Saint Xavier on the board in the 29th minute with a strike off a pass from junior forward Lexi Cozzi.
From there, the Cougars scored with regularity.
Cozzi would add to her team-leading points total with another assist on a goal by sophomore Christina Sperando in the 44th minute.
Cozzi’s second assist of the game gave her 14 points for the season (five goals, four assists).
The rest of the goals in the match were unassisted.
Junior forward Christina Szocka cashed in for an unassisted strike in the 39th minute, which gave the Coguars a 2-nil lead.
Inzinga tallied her second goal in the competition with a shot that beat opposing goalkeeper Lauren Blackledge in the 54th minute.
Then, sophomore Julia Gawlak capped the match’s scoring with her unassisted addition to the Cougar lead in the 78th minute of play.
The Saint Xavier attack was obviously the star of the day. The Cougars’ five goals came on 17 total shots, nine of which wound up directed on goal.
But the Saint Xavier defense had one of its best games too, with sophomore goalkeeper Alex Perry making saves on all eight of the shots that got through to her.
Perry would continue her impressive play into the next match, though it would ultimately turn out to be a Cougar loss.
After Saint Xavier’s offensive explosion against Crimson Wave, the Cougars dropped a match 2-1 at home against Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Trinity Christian College on Saturday.
The match with the Trolls of Trinity Christian was the first the Cougars played at home since a 2-0 win over Purdue University Calumet on Oct. 4.
Although Saint Xavier took the loss, Perry again had a very solid performance in the match.
Perry was forced to stand on her head. The Trolls got off 29 total shots. Of those 29, a whopping 18 were directed toward the net.
Perry made 15 stops in the match and her defenders made one block.
Despite the high shot total for Trinity Christian, their offensive production came early in the match.
The Trolls earned both of their goals within the first 25 minutes of play.
It was in the 15th minute that Troll midfielder Brook Ellis found fellow midfielder Cassidy Bosselaar about 10 yards from the goalmouth. Bosselaar struck and beat Perry to the right side, giving the Trolls a 1-nil lead.
In the 25th minute, Trinity Christian substitute Lilly Brummel got the ball to forward Rachael Webb, who buried from 15 yards out to make the Troll lead 2-0.
After all the Cougars had done against Calumet College of Saint Joseph, Saint Xavier just could not get the attacking on track.
The Cougars had a solid 12 shots (eight on goal), but they could not find the back of the net until the 90th minute.
That was when senior midfielder Morgan Graves got a cross pass off to her sister, fellow senior midfielder Marissa Graves.
The cross reached Marissa Graves about five yards from the goalmouth, an area of the field where she was not going to miss.
Her strike beat opposing keeper Jesse Bultsma to ensure that, at least for now, the Cougars would not be shut out for the second time this October.
The home stretch of the women’s soccer schedule is upon us. As of today, the Cougars have three more regular season contests before the start of the CCAC tournament.
They will try to improve upon their 4-7-3 overall record and 3-4-1 conference record (as of Monday) with their next match on the road at Roosevelt University on Nov. 1.
They will then conclude their regular season with a 6 p.m. home game against Robert Morris University on Nov. 4 before the CCAC tournament begins on Nov. 8.
Tim Carroll
Senior Sports Editor
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