The women's soccer team came out of the weekend undefeated through a stalemate and a storm. The Bears improved their record to 5-3-3 (0-1-1 Ivy League) with a scoreless draw against Columbia Friday and a 2-1 win over the United States Military Academy Sunday. The three points this weekend did, however, come at a price, as two players were injured in the games.
Bruno came out flat against Columbia Friday night and let the Lions dictate the pace of the game early. Columbia out-shot the Bears 8-3 in the first half but also committed seven penalties to the Bears' one. "We weren't moving off the ball," said Head Coach Phil Pincince. "We played slow motion soccer. We looked like we were stuck in mud."
Lions' forward Shannon Munoz exploited the Bears' sloth and created two chances early in the game. Just over five minutes in, Munoz took goalkeeper Brenna Hogue '10 one-on-one. But fortunately for the Bears, the rookie denied Munoz and the Lions a 1-0 advantage.
Two minutes later, Brown defender Julie Wu '09 snuffed out another Munoz chance with a slide tackle. The stop proved costly for the Bears, though. Wu re-aggravated a leg injury she suffered in the Bears' previous game against Dartmouth on the challenge. She came out of the game shortly after the play and did not play on Sunday.
With the team looking sluggish, Pincince looked for a spark off the bench. Forward Mica Bayard '07, midfielders Andrea Pagnanelli '08, Susan Keller '08, Alex Michael '09 and back Paige Reidy '10 all saw action. "The players that came in did a nice job," Pincince said. "There was a momentum shift."
Still, the Lions threatened to score from just outside the 6-yard box at the 22:00 mark. But center back Julia Shapira '08 laid a slide tackle on midfielder Jessica Schott.
"I wasn't very happy at halftime at all," Pincince said. "I thought that we gave away 45 minutes. I was pleased with the second half and overtime."
The Bears returned to dominance in the second half, taking 15 shots, seven of them on net. But the Lions packed their defense with as many as seven players in the 18-yard box at a time. Moos broke free at about the 75 minute mark, but her header over Columbia goalkeeper Allison Vespa bounced wide.
Columbia's packed defense created a dangerous offensive opportunity for the Lions with 30 seconds left in regulation. Midfielder Mollie Mattuchio '08 settled a bouncer and rifled it back into the box. The ball ricocheted off a wall of defenders and past Mattuchio all the way to midfield. Columbia's offense took control and set up an opportunity. Once again, Shapira stopped Munoz from getting a shot off.
Both teams had three shots in overtime, but all of Columbia's were dangerous opportunities. Hogue stopped all of them though, including a laser header through a crowd in the box that she deflected away late in the second overtime. "It was awesome to keep that shutout and keep it at zero," said Hogue.
Hogue saved a career-high seven shots and the shutout was her third of the season. The stalemate marked the fifth time in six years the Bears and Lions have gone into double overtime. Brown is 1-2-2 in those games. It was also the third straight game Brown failed to score a goal.
It did not take long for the Bears to break that streak against Army on Sunday. After lightning delayed the start of the game for 30 minutes, co-captain Kathryn Moos '07 brought the 314-minute scoring drought to an end in the pouring rain.
Just over five minutes into the game, Reidy started a run and threaded a pass to forward Lindsay Cunningham '09. Cunningham fed Moos on the left side and Moos launched a shot into the right side of the net from 18 yards out. It was her team-leading sixth goal of the season and also tied the team's high from last year.
"We knew if we kept pressing that one would go in," said Moos. "Once we had the lead we felt like we had to keep up the tempo."
Less than 10 minutes later, Brown had several golden opportunities to score in one sequence. Army goalie Rebecca Garcia stopped a shot from close range that rebounded to a Brown foot. The Bears took several shots including a left footer by Moos that almost snuck through. But Garcia and the Army defense were able to throw their bodies in front of each shot until the Black Knights cleared the ball and the threat.
"That was a good situation (the goal) put us in for the rest of the half," Pincince said. "I thought we carried the play at the start of the second half."
With just over 20 minutes left in the second frame, Michael hit Cunningham on the left side with a pass who returned the favor to Michael on the left wing. The backup midfielder worked her way into the box and crossed it to the 6-yard line for a waiting Mansfield.
"I saw Alex about to beat her man on the side of the field and headed straight for the goal with the confidence that she would get the cross off," Mansfield said. "And she did, and it was beautiful."
Mansfield headed the ball past replacement goalie Devon Collins and into the top of the net, giving Brown a 2-0 lead.
At 75:56, the Bears suffered another injury when Pagnanelli got her feet caught in the wet grass by the right corner flag during a valiant attempt to keep the ball from going out of bounds on the offensive end. Pagnanelli had to be helped off the field with an ankle injury.
With less than 10 minutes left, Army midfielder Drew Biddick sent a rocket from almost 40 yards out that eluded a diving Hogue, but hit the right side of the cross bar. Less than a minute later, however, forward Therese Fox popped a ball over Hogue's head and the bouncer found its way into the back of the net cutting the score to 2-1.
"We should expect that any team that's down is going to push up as hard as they can," Mansfield said. "Just have to hold them off, and we did."
Army continued to press in the closing seconds, but the defense forced the Black Knights' final kick wide as time ran out.
The women's soccer team returns to action this Friday night at Princeton. The Tigers will be looking for revenge after the Bears' 2-1 victory last season, their first against Princeton since 1997.
