Women’s Soccer sweep weekend, extend winning streak to 6 games
Senior forward Helly Graves earned Atlantic-10 Offensive Player of the Week after scoring two goals and notching an assist in VCU's victories over Duquesne and Dayton. Photo by Shayla Bailey.
Wayne Coleman
Contributing Writer
Women’s Soccer stretched its winning streak to six after defeating conference foes Duquesne University and the University of Dayton. The Rams improved their season record to 9-2 and have not lost in over a month. They complete a three game homestand on Wednesday Oct. 4 against Davidson at 7 p,m. and complete the weekend with a road game at St. Joesph’s University on Sunday Oct. 7.
Duquesne
Coming off four consecutive saves by their goalkeeper, the Dukes found a break in the Black and Gold’s defense. On a long drive down midfield, Duquesne ran the ball down one on one. Senior goalkeeper Audrey Sanderson attempted to block the shot to the bottom left corner but missed, allowing Abbey Losco to score the first point for Duquesne. The Dukes gained a 1-0 lead with 11 minutes remaining in the first half.
Head coach Lindsey Martin was aware of what her team was going up against, but was not phased by Duquesne goalkeeper Kyra Murphy.
“[Murphy]’s good, she’s a veteran, she’s a senior, she’s had a really good career, but our game plan has more to do with us than it does to do with any team we play,” Martin said. “We just talk about always being us, and if we can be us, which is consistent performance, attacking and defending, that’s all that we ask out of each other and I think that’s all we need.”
Sophomore forward CiCi Fox showed respect for her opponent as well, noting that she did not let anything by with ease.
“She saved a lot of our shots,” Fox said. “It was pretty tough to get any on frame. In the first ten seconds of the game, we definitely could have scored, but she made a great save. But I think she’s still beatable, like any other keeper in conference.”
With an assist from Fox and junior defender Sarah Gibson, senior forward Kelly Graves scored the first goal for VCU with seven minutes remaining in the second half, sending the match to overtime.
The game remained tied throughout the first overtime and late into the second. VCU scored the winning goal when Fox made a header from the six-yard box and took home the win.
“I think we need to start with more aggression,” Fox said. “I think our focus was a little off coming into the game. It took us a while to switch on, it took us a whole half to be down. I think we definitely need to start stronger so we don’t end in predicaments like that again.”
Dayton
The Rams played conference rival Dayton Sept. 27 and routed the Flyers to push their winning streak to five.
Sophomore midfielder Samantha Jerabek started the game off, scoring the first goal in the 13th minute — her eighth this season.
Junior midfielder Alyssa Tallent proceeded to tack on two more goals, with Graves adding another. Graves’ score in the 57th minute marked her third goal of the season while Tallent gained her second and third in the 53rd and 83rd minutes, respectively.
In the end, the Black and Gold squad proved too much for Dayton, shutting the Flyers out on the road in the 4-0 win. VCU held the advantages, outdoing Dayton 12-9 in shots and 6-2 in shots on goal.
