After defeating the University of New Hampshire last week, the women's soccer team suffered its first loss of the season Sunday against Sacred Heart University. Though a late goal was enough to top the Wildcats (1-6-1) Thursday, the Bears (4-1-1) could not outscore a physical Pioneers squad (4-2-2).
Brown 1, UNH 0
Chloe Cross '15 netted the eventual game-winning goal with six minutes left to play to help Bruno earn its fourth win of the season.
"We did really well in the first half," captain Sarah Hebert-Seropian '12 said. "The only thing again was that we did not capitalize on our chances." The Bears had nine chances in the first half alone.
Bruno's defense kept the Wildcats at bay throughout the game, as keepers MC Barrett '14 and Amber Bledsoe '14 each only had to make one save. Cross broke the deadlock when she fired a shot into the lower left side of the net after beating her defender. UNH could not find a response before the final whistle, and Bruno walked away with its fourth win this fall.
"The UNH game was a real good win for us on the road," said Head Coach Phil Pincince. "We were patient enough to look for the winning goal, and we held on, so it was a good game."
Sacred Heart 3, Brown 2
Goals from Kiersten Berg '14 and Alison Mullin '14 were not enough for Bruno to overcome the Pioneers. The Bears started the game with intensity, matching the Pioneers' physicality in the midfield by pressuring loose balls. But Sacred Heart got on the board first when Amanda Stiles put away her penalty shot after being brought down in the box in the 19th minute.
"I thought that we had a hard time dealing with the physicalness of the game," Pincince said. "They were the most physical team we've played thus far."
The Bears nearly answered minutes later when Berg drove a low cross into the feet of Maddie Wiener '14, who pushed her effort just wide of the post.
Sacred Heart nabbed another goal in the 33rd minute when Lucy Gildein got in behind the defense and lifted the ball over Bledsoe to double the lead.
Bruno finally clawed a goal back with a little over eight minutes left in the half. Hebert-Seropian played a ball over the top of the UNH defense that found Berg, who calmly slid her shot below the keeper's hands to bring the score to 2-1 going into the break.
The squad opened the second half the way they closed the first, when Mullin headed the ball in off a corner kick just three minutes in, tying the game 2-2. But the Pioneers answered right back, when Stiles guided a long ball into the back of the net for her second goal of the match.
Despite 20 more minutes of midfield pressure, the Bears could not come up with another answering goal, and the final whistle blew to bring the 3-2 defeat to an end.
"I think we should have done better in the first half," Hebert-Seropian said. "Coach said we didn't really follow the game plan, and I agree with that. We had to be a little more aggressive."
The Bears face their next challenge Thursday at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (2-2-2). Bruno looks to learn from this first loss and get back to its winning ways.
"We need to be more accurate with our passes to release pressure," Pincince said. "From A to Z, we were chasing that game, so hopefully we'll do a better job with that."
