Women's soccer defeats New York 1–0, ties Brandeis 0-0
An own goal scored by a New York University defender put Carnegie Mellon women’s soccer up by one in Friday’s match against the Violets, a lead that the team maintained until the end of regulation. The victory prepared the team for the highly anticipated Brandeis University match-up Sunday that resulted in a double overtime 0–0 tie. After a doubleheader weekend against UAA competition, the win and tie improve the team’s record to 2–3–1 in the UAA and 8–5–3 overall.
The first half of the New York game showed equal play from both teams, but the second half demonstrated Carnegie Mellon dominance. Once the whistle blew for the second-half start, the Tartans put pressure on the Violets and cranked up the number of shots taken from two in the first 45 minutes to seven in the second. Carnegie Mellon gave up 10 corner kicks and 15 fouls, while it only received four corners and 12 fouls. Even though New York had more attacking opportunities, Carnegie Mellon monopolized on one of its chances in the 47th minute, when sophomore Emily Overstreet played a free kick into the center of the box for senior co-captain to run onto, however a New York defender marking Coffin misheaded the ball, attempting to flick it out of bounds but instead sent the ball sailing past her goalkeeper and into the back netting.
Carnegie Mellon retained the edge and even turned up the pressure in the waning 10 minutes of the game, when the team maintained possession in its offensive third, striking five shots with heart-stopping rebounds off the post and crossbar from Coffin.
After recording the team’s second UAA win of the season, the Tartans traveled to Boston to take on Brandeis. In the last three meetings, the Tartans struggled to come away with a win against the Judges, but have dominated the run of play in nearly every contest. This unfortunate track record continued Sunday as the game ended in a 0-0 tie after double overtime.
Overstreet followed her own corner kick up with a shot with just 14 minutes remaining in regulation, and despite the ball clearly sailing over the goalkeeper’s head, the Brandeis defender cleared it out of the box. Whether or not the shot would result in a goal was questionable at the time, but the call was ultimately made in favor of the Judges, leaving the score still 0–0.
The remaining seconds of the game provided Carnegie Mellon with its last opportunity, a Coffin shot was cleared off the line after a collision with the Brandeis goalkeeper. The tie advanced the game into double overtime, which proved to be uneventful for both sides.
“It was a hard-fought battle. We had a lot of chances, but it just wasn’t our day. The referees were not working with us at all, and there were a lot of unlucky fouls and a lot of unlucky circumstances. The clear off the line at the end of the second half was definitely a questionable call, but the referees did not make that in our favor.”
The Tartans have one game remaining in their regular season and will host Emory University Saturday. Kick-off is set for 11 a.m. in Gesling Stadium. This match-up marks the final home game for the three seniors and co-captains who have contributed immensely to the Carnegie Mellon women’s soccer program: forward Abby Coffin and defenders Mary Ashe and Sarah DeWath.
“We had such a strong showing today, and we’ll play well against Emory,” Smith added.