Towson Soccer takes down William & Mary, 2-1
By: Courtney Ott, Deputy Sports Editor
The Towson Women’s Soccer team defeated The College of William & Mary 2-1 as they near the end of regular season games.
In the first half, Towson dominated offensively with seven shots, four of them on goal, and William & Mary only had two shots with one on goal.
“We played with a lot of heart, played hard and stepped up our game plan,” said Head Coach Katherine Vettori.
The first ten minutes were back and forth between both teams until Towson freshman Reese Borden scored off of a free kick at the 34:30 mark, putting the ball in the top left corner and just making it past the goalie’s reach.
William & Mary had an opportunity to respond with 27:40 to go in the first half, but was shut down in the bottom right corner by junior goalkeeper Riley Melendez.
Another scoring opportunity came to William & Mary at 21:25 off of a free kick but it soared just over the goal.
With just under 18 minutes left in the first half, junior Nia Christopher had a clear shot at the top of the box but the ball went wide to the right. Redshirt junior Phoebe Canoles had a free kick at 6:25 but glided over the center of the crossbar.
Christopher had a breakaway at 5:00 with only the goalkeeper in her path but the ball was saved in the air on the left side of the net. With under two minutes in the half, Christopher was faced with another one-on-one with the goalie but was stopped by a ground save.
The last scoring opportunity in the first half for the Tigers came at 1:30. Sophomore Emily Kirkpatrick shot from the top of the box but went high. The first half ended with Towson in the lead at 1-0.
The second half got off to a quick start with a William & Mary goal less than five minutes into the half.
“We need to keep our composure and act like we have been here before. We need to slow the game down and it got a little frantic…” said Vettori.
Physical gameplay picked up early on in the second half, and three yellow cards were handed to the Tribe in the span of two minutes.
At 32:50, William & Mary tried to capitalize on a scoring opportunity but was shut down by junior defender Maja Hansson right in front of the center of the goal.
“Defensively we defended as a unit and I was pleased with the performance,” Vettori said.
Towson was then faced with a chance to score at 25:20 when Christopher passed the ball to junior Alexandra Rush. Rush fired the ball but was saved on the left side of the net.
Nearing the end of the half, Canoles received the ball from a corner kick and shot the ball wide to the right, nearly missing the net. A shot by Hansson was followed closely after but the ball went up in the air and was cleared by William & Mary’s defense.
To put the Tigers in the lead, Christopher scored at 10:57 after gaining control of the ball that was fumbled by the goalie right in front of the net.
The Tribe’s last scoring opportunity came at 2:15 left in the game after a corner kick ricocheted off of the left goal post.
“Our focus at this point in the season is recovery and keeping ourselves healthy to get through the last two final regular season games and hopefully have a postseason ahead of us,” said Vettori.
Towson’s next game is Senior Day at home against Hampton University on Oct. 16 at 1 p.m.
