On October 14, the Saint Xavier women’s soccer team played against St. Ambrose University. The game was a tale of two halves for the Cougars, as they would play well in the the first, but lose the game in the second half in heartbreaking fashion.
The game would start out with Saint Xavier goalkeeper Alex Perry have two make two crucial saves off of a header and a shot on goal within the first 10 minutes of the game. This would give the Cougars’ offense momentum as they would get shots on goal between the 16th minute and the 25th minute.
In the 24th minute, the Cougars would break through and take a 1-0 off of the foot of defender Jillian Doan. From there, St. Ambrose would control the ball for the remainder of the first half and get multiple shots on goal. Luckily for the Cougars, Perry was on her game in the first half, saving all four shots on goal in the first half and leading the Cougars to a 1-0 lead at halftime.
Reminiscent of the beginning of the first half, St. Ambrose would come out with a flurry of offense, shooting shot after shot towards Perry and testing the strength of the Cougars’ defense. The defense would hold up until the 60th minute, when a shot that was blocked by a Cougar defender ended up in the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1.
Following the unfortunate goal to tie the game, the Cougars would bounce right back, not letting a fluke goal bring them down. In the 66th minute, the Cougars would retake the lead at 2-1 on a goal by forward Lexi Cozzi off of a cross.
This lead would quickly evaporate though as St. Ambrose would score in the 70th minute to tie the game again, this time at 2-2. This back and forth action would continue as both teams were on the cusp of victory and did not want to take a loss.
Both teams would trade shots on goal with each other, proving that the underdog Cougars could hang with their rival. However, the game would dramatically shift in the 83rd minute when midfielder Danielle Inzinga would pick up her second yellow card of the game, resulting in her receiving a red card and being ejected from the game.
This would force the Cougars to play with only 10 women on the pitch compared to St. Ambrose’s 11. Despite the seemingly insurmountable odds before her team, Perry played valiantly in net for the final 7 minutes of the game, saving multiple shots and doing the best she can to help the Cougars overcome their difficult situation.
Unfortunately for her and the Cougars, St. Ambrose would be able to find the the back of the net in the 88th minute to give them a 3-2 win over the Cougars. The Cougars would have to get over their heartbreaking loss and try to refocus, as they would have to play one more game at home on “Senior Night” against Holy Cross College.
On Friday, October 16, the Saint Xavier women’s soccer team battled against Holy Cross College. On “Senior Night”, the Cougars would experience first hand just how cruel the game of soccer can be as they thoroughly outplayed their opponents, yet still came out of the game with a loss.
The start of the game looked great for the Cougars as they would absolutely dominate the time of possession of the ball and get a plethora of shots on goal. Even though most of these shots did not find the back of the net, you got the sense that eventually the Cougars would break through and be able to win this game with ease.
Ironically though, despite the dominance of the Cougars, it was Holy Cross that would have one opportunity to score in the first half and they would capitalize in the 31st minute to take a 1-0 lead on the Cougars.
After the goal, the Cougars would continue to challenge Holy Cross’ defense but still it find the back of the net. The Cougars go into halftime inexplicably down 1-0. During halftime, forward Lexi Cozzi, defender Rachel Didier, and forward Christina Szocka would be honored in a ceremony as they were all seniors.
In the second half, the Cougars would once again dominate the time of possession of the ball and would try to exploit Holy Cross’ defense with a barrage of shots. But much like in the first half, the shots just would not go into the net.
The Cougars would still find themselves down 1-0 in the 87th minute, but attempted one last ditch effort to, at the very least, send the game into overtime. Utility player Christina Sperando would attempt two shots in that minute with one being blocked, while the other was saved by Holy Cross’ goalkeeper.
In the last few seconds of the game, defender Jillian Doan and midfielder Brittany Koening would both have an opportunity to tie the game. Unfortunately, both missed their shots wide left and the game would end as the Cougars would lose on their “Senior Night” by a score of 1-0.
With the two losses in the week, the Cougars’ record now stands at 4-10 with a conference record of 2-6. The Cougars will look to get back on track on Wednesday, October 21, against conference foe Trinity Christian College.
John Romando
Senior Sports Editor
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