Today: Mar 28, 2024

Late Goal Not Enough for Owls Soccer

Edgar AyalaSports Editor

The season opening game for Southern Connecticut’s women’s soccer team resulted in Mercy College coming up victorious 3-1 last Friday night at Jess Dow Field.

Southern’s head coach, Adam Cohen, said the team is still early in the season that he is still evaluating the players and the chemistry within the group.  

“At the end of the day the kids pushed, pushed, pushed and we were rewarded with a goal at the end of the game,” Coach Cohen said. “Were certainly not pleased with the result but the effort was very good.”

Junior midfielder Vicky Conde said the team committed to many errors, which allowed Mercy to score three consecutive goals.

“We made three mistakes,” said Conde. “We gave it everything we had but unfortunately we just came up short.”  

The Owls were down 3-0 six minutes into the second half, and the Mavericks did not look like they were going to concede a goal. However, a last minute strike by senior forward Caroline Staudle rescued the Owls from getting shut out in the 89 minute of the game.  

Staudle won a battle at the top of the box and shot it to the lower left side of the net, scoring her first goal of the season.  

Yet, it was Mercy’s Heidi Serna that got the game ball. Serna scored twice in the first half. That led the Owls to be head back to the locker rooms down 2-0 at the half.  

Serna first goal came in the 31 minute. A right-footed strike from the left side of the field into the bottom right post.  

Then 12 minutes later came another strike from Serna involving a give and go pass from her teammate Haley Noble, after a Southern defender lost the ball in the final third of the pitch.

Noble dribbled down the right side and crossed it into the middle of the box for Serna to score on her first touch, and finish the ball into the goalkeeper’s left side.  

“Coach told us to keep fighting till the end,” said Conde referring to what Cohen said down 2-0 at halftime.

Cohen said he made adjustments at halftime on he wanted the team to attack and defend.  As he substituted into the game some freshman to start the second half.  

However, in the 51 minute of the game came the 3-0 lead by Mercy.  

Jessica Brandt blasted a shot that hit the middle left post and ricochet off the pole and down into the net. Dominique Banks provided the assist.  

Eight minutes before the end of the game, senior Christine Allard, picked up a yellow card for a tackle on a Mercy player. This was the only booking of the game.  

On the other side, seven minutes after Allard’s yellow card, the Owls managed to get on the scoreboard in the last 90 seconds of the game. Bringing the final score to 3-1.  

“I liked to see the fact that hard work paid off,” Cohen said after Staudle scored the only goal for Southern. “Too little too late in terms of the result of the game, but hopefully it’s a positive thing looking forward.”

The women’s team also played this past Sunday against the No. 4 team in the country, the University of Bridgeport, where they dropped their second game of the season losing 2-1.  

The Owls next game is scheduled for Sept. 7 against LIU Post in Brookville, N.Y. at 4 p.m.

Photo Credit: Edgar Ayala – Sports Editor

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