Tigers fall short of expectations in 2-1 loss against UNCW

By Jack Ahumada, Contributing Writer

In a battle against the Coastal Athletic Association’s No. 1 seed, the Towson Tigers (6-4-2) looked to extend their three-game winning streak against the undefeated University of North Carolina Wilmington Seahawks (7-0-6). After 90 minutes, Towson’s offense was stifled by the Seawolves, falling 2-1 at Tiger Field on Thursday.

The Seahawks began the game with junior midfielder Ava Vaughan sending a high-flying corner kick towards redshirt junior forward Hailey Longwell who scored a header goal three-minutes into the first half.

The Tigers attempted to find an answer after the early goal, but the Seahawks defense and junior goalkeeper Lili White stood their ground, with White making four saves to keep Towson scoreless.

The Seahawks, leading 1-0, continued to apply pressure on Towson in the first half, with Towson’s redshirt junior goalkeeper Teagan Gardner making three integral saves to keep UNCW’s lead to one going into halftime.

Both teams played physically through the first 45 minutes of the match, with both teams having four fouls at the end of the half.

“We can take this as a learning experience,” said Towson head coach Katherine Vettori about the outcome of the game. “Their (UNCW’s) style is to play it forward… the ball (is) bouncing everywhere, and that’s not our style.”

Both teams came out of the halftime break refreshed, until a foul on Towson’s freshman midfielder Sydney Taylor led to a scoring penalty kick for UNCW’s junior midfielder Ava Vaughn. The successful penalty kick gave the Seahawks a 2-0 lead less than two minutes into the second half.

A physical play by Longwell sent Gardner to the ground hard at the 60-minute mark. Gardner was checked out by medical staff before eventually getting back into the goal.

Twelve minutes later, in the 72nd minute of the match, the Tigers looked lively. Freshman midfielder Meron Koro made a heads-up defensive play, leading to a Towson possession deep in UNCW’s end of the field.

Koro raced further down the field and found senior midfielder Sophie Thibeault who sent the ball into the net to score Towson’s first goal of the game.

“Meron worked for that… that was a great defensive play, and then what a finish by Sophie. Beautiful,” Vettori said. .

With the Tigers down 2-1 and 18 minutes remaining, there was an immediate need to put one more on the scoreboard. However, Towson’s goal did not halt the momentum that the Seahawks created.

When asked about the Tigers performance in the second half, Vettori said, “We did not come out and play the way that we play… It still wasn’t great in the second half, but at least we showed a little bit of who we are and the effort was there.”

Yellow cards for Seahawks Caigan Leonard and Ava Chuderewicz in the final 11 minutes led nowhere, and Towson fell short in the closing minutes of the game.

Possession throughout the game was in favor of UNCW, with 17 shots, seven on goal, and eight corners against Towson’s nine shots, six on goal, and two corners.

Towson looks ahead to face their next opponents, the Charleston Cougars, at home in the Pink Game on Sunday at 1 p.m.