Jeff Nowak
After 110 minutes of play, women’s Owls soccer found themselves in a game-ending 1-1 tie against Le Moyne, following what head coach Adam Cohen said he thought was a missed call in the box.
“I thought it was a penalty,” said Cohen, “but the referee thought otherwise, so ultimately you’ve got to move on.”
The play came with less than 20 seconds left in the game after junior midfielder Jenna Mallico made
a move past the defender towards the goal and was taken down from behind and stripped of the ball.
“I beat her and I literally got thrown by my shorts,” said Mallico. “It’s really frustrating.”
The team was granted a corner kick off the play, but was not able to get a good shot out of it before time expired.
Mallico was also taken down in the box during the first half, also with no call. She was noticeably limping for some time after, although Mallico said she was able to recover from the tackle quickly.
Southern’s lone goal came midway through the first half off of a pass by Mallico to Flavia Bernades on the left side of the goal. Bernades quickly redirected the ball into the center of the goal box to Laura Barberia, who was able to knock the ball past Le Moyne goalkeeper Felicia Tynan.
“I think we need to keep our composure, play as a team and not let up,” said Mallico. “Just because we’re winning doesn’t mean the game’s over.”
Although Southern dominated the ball for most of the game, they were never able to put any good shots on the goal, only forcing Tynan to make one save.
“In soccer, the hardest thing to do is score goals,” said Cohen. “That’s why it’s such a challenging sport.”
Le Moyne did not get on the board until the 77th minute when Christie Morano scored an unassisted
counter-attack goal.
Before that point, Owls goalkeeper Olivia Heffernan had played a flawless game, making four saves and several good plays on balls outside of the box to negate multiple Le Moyne attacks.
“I thought we played pretty well,” said Cohen. “I think fitness is an issue and hopefully that will come over the next few weeks.”
Southern opened up the season with with a 6-1 win over Felician College, and a 2-0 victory against Queens College, before tying Le Moyne.
Mallico said she hopes this type of game does not become a trend for this year’s team.
“Last year we also got into the same habit of always having the lead, getting scored on and ending in a tie,” said Mallico. “I just want wins, I want W’s.”
Southern also took on Southern New Hampshire University Friday, but took their first loss of the 2010 season, 3-0.
“We have some good players and this is just kind of a typical conference game where every team we’re gonna play is gonna be real competitive,” said Cohen. “We’ve gotta score second or third goals so we’re not in the situation where we’re going into overtime.”
The womens soccer Owls continue their 2010 season at home Wednesday against Northeast-10 foe Assumption College.