Women's Soccer Falls at Villanova
8/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Aug. 29, 2006
VILLANOVA, PA - George Washington came up short Tuesday night at Villanova, falling to the Wildcats 2-1, nearly five hours after play began.
With storm clouds looming, the decision was made to start the match an hour early, in a vain attempt to beat the impending rain. Unfortunately, those efforts were for not. The Colonials (1-1) fought through the rain - and subsequent rain delays - but in the end it just was not enough as they lost to Villanova (3-0) on a goal in the 88th minute.
Villanova struck first - in the 29th minute - when junior Kaley Guthrie sent a pass across the middle of the box, allowing fellow junior Nikki Mabery to drill the ball into the top right corner. The Wildcats took the 1-0 lead into halftime. It was just three minutes into the second half when things began to get interesting.
The heavy rain that players and coaches had feared finally arrived, resulting in the first of two delays, totaling 105 minutes. The rain did so much damage to the field at the West Campus Soccer Complex that the teams had to relocate, playing the final 42 minutes on the turf at Villanova Stadium.
The change to the turf - and its faster play - quickly benefited the Colonials. Junior Jordan Sweeney (1) was able to tie the game at one apiece in the 51st minute. Lone Colonial senior Shari Taylor was credited with the assist.
Despite the quickened pace of play - after totaling 12 shots in the first 48 minutes on grass, the two teams combined for 19 shots in just 42 minutes of play on the turf - the game remained tied until Villanova was able to take advantage of an opportunistic bounce. With 2:56 remaining in the match, junior Kayce Blandford sent a corner kick into the mixer. After a scramble, sophomore Erin Hardiman ripped a shot off the crossbar, recovered her rebound and sent it over to Mabrey (3) for the game-winning goal, the third of her career.
Head Coach Tanya Vogel was excited about what she saw from her team. "It was great effort by them today. Sure, we're disappointed, because we feel like we had an opportunity to win a big game, but I couldn't be more proud - we definitely got better today."
The Colonials, out shot 20-11, were unable to register a single corner throughout the match, compared to the nine taken by the Wildcats.
"That second rain delay really took away some of our momentum," Vogel said, "but I think we responded very well. We're looking forward to getting back out onto the field."
GW continues its play on the road this weekend, playing two games at the Marshall Tournament in West Virginia. They will face Marshall on Friday at 7:00PM and then Morehead State at 11:30AM on Sunday. The Colonials will open home play on September 6 at 3:00PM against Howard.
