VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – A goal in the 77th minute for Virginia Wesleyan proved to be the difference, as the Washington and Lee women's soccer team dropped a 2-1 decision to the Marlins on the road on Saturday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
With the score tied at one goal per side, the Marlins (11-2-1, 7-0-1 ODAC) maintained possession in the attacking third. The ball was played up to Shyenne Diaz in the middle, who had her back to the goal. With a couple of touches, Diaz turned and hit a hard, right-footed shot through the defense, past a diving
Sydney Smith and inside the left post to take the final lead of the game.
In the closing seconds, the Generals (9-2-4, 5-1-2 ODAC) drew a hard foul roughly 35 yards out in the middle of the field. The foul drew a yellow card and allowed W&L to set up one final chance with five seconds left on the clock. Sophomore
Bryn Bissinger took the initial touch, but sent the ball into the wall of Marlins 10 yards away. The ball came right back to senior
Cameron Grainger, who managed to put a shot on goal to the low-right corner of the frame, just inside the post, but VWU keeper Rachel Quigley dove for the save as time expired.
The Marlins took an initial 1-0 lead in the 18th minute on a W&L own goal. Sam Crawford made a run with the ball up the right side and sent a cross into the box, where the ball took an unfortunate W&L bounce off the foot of a defender and into the goal.
The Generals wasted little time in equalizing, however, as just six minutes later sophomore
Sarah Zimmerman found the back of the net to knot the game at one. W&L had the ball in the attacking third, and a pass that was sent into the box was headed out to the left by the defense. Sophomore
Sophie Berman was there for the Generals, and she put a strong cross back into the box where Zimmerman flew in and volleyed the ball inside the left post.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Zimmerman's goal was her fifth of the season to tie her atop the team leaderboard with Grainger and Berman, while her 15 points leads the team outright. Berman tallied her second assist of the season, and she is now up to 12 points on the year. Sophomore
Helen Otteni took a team-high four shots in the contest, followed closely by Zimmerman and Berman with three each.
In goal, Smith made four saves, all of which came in the second half, with two coming across the final seven minutes of play.
Diaz scored on one of her two shot attempts in the game, and she put both shots on goal. Janessa Lowe took a team-high three shots and had one on target, while three other Marlin players each attempted once. Quigley earned the win in goal for VWU with five saves across the 90 minutes of play.
TEAM STATS:
After an 8-1 margin in total shots in the first half, the Blue and White added a 9-7 mark in the second for a total advantage of 17-8. The Generals also edged the Marlins in shots on goal (6-5) and corner kicks (2-0).
UP NEXT:
The Generals will return to action on Tuesday in what will be their final road game of the regular season. They will travel to Ferrum for a 7:00 pm start.
Nestled in the mountains of Virginia, Washington and Lee University is a proud member of NCAA Division III and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Founded in 1749, W&L is the ninth-oldest college in the United States and a top-ranked liberal arts university. With over 500 student-athletes in 24 varsity sports, the Generals have celebrated over 265 conference championships. Learn more about the Blue and White by visiting www.generalssports.com or on social media at @WLUGenerals.
