Following a 2-1 win against Princeton Saturday, the women’s soccer team brought home another victory in an away game against the Holy Cross Crusaders, beating the hosts 3-2 Tuesday night.
“Coming off a high with our win over Princeton, it was important for us to regain focus and come into this match with the same energy and competitive spirit,” said Head Coach Kia McNeill.
Indeed, the team came out strong in its final non-conference game of the 2016 season.
Eight minutes into play, Carly Gould ’17 opened scoring with her third goal of the season during an offensive break set up by Abby Carchio ’20 and Jennifer Caruso ’19.
Holy Cross’ Andj Seslija responded 20 minutes later with a goalscoring header off of a corner from Carly Flahive to even up the proceedings.
Toward the end of the first half, Maclaine Lehan ’18 gave a touch pass to Gould who transferred the ball to Katy Schmidt ’18 inside the 6-yard box. Schmidt netted a header — her first career goal — giving Bruno a 2-1 advantage going into the locker room at halftime.
The first-half fireworks were uncharacteristic for a Brown team that has found as much success on defense as it has struggled on offense. In eight games in September, the Bears scored four goals and allowed just one.
But the scoring continued after the intermission, as Celia Story ’19 tallied Brown’s third goal of the contest in the 63rd minute to put the team on top 3-1.
Attempting to narrow the widening margin, Holy Cross defender Lucy Acuna proceeded to score an unassisted deflection against Brown goalie Rylee Shumway ’18 two minutes later. In her first start between the posts this season, Shumway stopped eight shots. Shumway’s presence in the goal is a departure from the normal setup with Christine Etzel ’19. Etzel played for the first half of the contest, making one save.
A victory secured largely by players who have seen less time on the field this season “just goes to show our depth as a team and how hard everyone has been working,” Etzel said.
McNeill echoed this statement. “The win against Holy Cross was a great feat for the team. Anytime you can play a competitive non-conference game in the area it is beneficial for the team because it allows us to try players in different positions, new plays and just hone in on different tactics we might use in conference play. ”
With a home game against Harvard coming up Saturday, Etzel was encouraged by the win. “It’s a great confidence builder going into this weekend,” she said.
McNeill also stressed the importance of self-confidence heading into the Ivy matchup.
“It is no secret that we have struggled to find the back of the net this year, so scoring three beautiful goals in the run of play surely gives us some confidence going into the Harvard game this weekend,” she said.
Bruno will host the Crimson at Stevenson-Pincince Field Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
