Luke Gadson – Sports Editor
In an overall great game, keeping the audience on their toes until the final minute, the match between the Owls and the Setters concluded in a 3-3 tie. It was a slow start for the Owls with the score showing 1-0, in favor of Pace University, at the end of the first half. In the second half of the game, the Owls excelled, scoring all three of their goals. Although, in the back-and-forth battle, the Setters answered with two goals in the second half. One of their goals hit the back of the net with less than 30 seconds left in the match.
Head Coach Adam Cohen was prepared for the Setters to put up a fight. “Great opponent, Pace always does a good job. They’re competitive, very well coached and it was certainly the type of game we expected from them,” said Coach Cohen.
Forward Kelsey Burr, a graduate student, continued her impressive play after winning NE10 Player of the Week, scoring the first goal of this game, assisted by back Amanda Dustin, a graduate student.
“I thought we played well, we were down 1-0 and we got three back,” said Dustin. This is also Burr’s fourth consecutive game scoring a goal and is leading her team with five goals on the season.
The second goal of the night came from a pass on a corner kick from midfielder Taylor Hennig, a graduate student. Midfielder Aimee Girard, a graduate student, headed the pass into the goal to give the Owls a 2-1 lead. In the final 10 minutes of the game, forward Nicky Deslauriers, a sophomore, scored the final goal for the Owls, blasting a shot into the goal off of a rebound which increased her team’s lead to 3-1.
Yet, these NE10 team cannot be counted out, as the Setters answered with two goals of their own. “We played well, we scored some really great goals, but we have to come out with a win in the end,” said forward Victoria Vera, a junior. “We have to realize the NE10 is a hard conference, but we want to come out as champions in the end, so we have to use this as an experience to go forward and not bring us backwards,” continued Vera.
A common idea for the Owls as they continue further into the season, is that they have to be prepared for the conference play that is to come. “You have to go to quite literally the last minute of the game because any NE10 team will find a way to come back. You can’t count any team out even if you’re up 3-1, so you have to fight until the end,” said Amanda Dustin.
In their last four games, the Owls are 3-0-1 and as they aim to continue this stellar play, they will take several factors from this game to learn from.
“The players learned that they can respond in the second half. I thought they created lots of chances in the second half and scored some goals, but they also have to remember that it takes a lot of maturity to close out these games,” said Coach Cohen. After this tie, the Owls overall record moves to 3-1-2, and they remain unbeaten in conference with a record of 1-0-1.
