Towson Women’s Soccer moves to 4-0 record, best start in program history
By Sam Peterson, staff writer and Brendan Kapfer, contributing writer
The Towson Women’s Soccer team advanced to a 4-0 record, the best start in program history as they soared past the neighboring UMBC Retrievers, 8-1.
Senior forward Jasmine Hamid led the charge for the Tigers as she notched four goals, and senior midfielder Phoebe Canoles finished with two goals and three assists. Senior forward Nia Christopher assisted on two.
“It was a really good team effort,” Hamid said. “We played together and that’s how we got the result we ended with.”
The Tigers created a lot of opportunities through clinical passing within the defense. Canoles sent a corner kick to Christopher, and Christopher fed it right back to her. Canoles shot off the left side, hit the bottom of the crossbar and bounced it in for the first goal of the game in the seventh minute.
Individually, the stats backed up the play on the field for the Tigers. Canoles had a hat trick of assists in the first half and notched a goal of her own. Defender Reese Borden also created two goals from corners.
“The goal that stands out to me is her header goal,” Vettori said. “The timing, the service from [Borden] the getting in the air. It was just beautiful.”
UMBC midfielder Esther Juretzka put a shot in the bottom right of the goal right past Melendez and closed the Tiger lead to 2-1 at the 19 minute mark. As Towson looked to increase their lead, graduate midfielder Demi Pierre sailed a shot out of reach of the diving Retriever defender.
“We can’t take our foot off the gas pedal,” Vettori said. “We still have a lot more to prove and we have to get better. Let’s not make this a dicey game.”
The Tigers stayed hot as the second half came under way. Hamid notched her fourth goal of the game as Christopher gained her second assist, and the Tigers led 6-1 after six minutes.
Reserve defender Krista Louro stopped a UMBC fast break and blocked a shot out of bounds. Borden followed up the defense and sent a corner kick into the bottom right of the goal in the 68th minute. Two minutes later, Canoles followed up Borden with her second goal of the game as the Tiger lead increased to 8-1, and the rest of the game remained quiet.
“We need to be able to play a physical game and we have more work to do. If we want to win the conference, we’re going to have to learn that,” Vettori said.
The Tigers will play their last out-of-conference game on Sep. 3 at College Park to face the University of Maryland at 1 p.m.
