Women’s Soccer falls prey to Cougars

Rosa Lee Harkrader/ The Captain's Log

In the second day of the two-day Captains’ Classic Tournament, Christopher Newport University fell to Kean University 3-2 in what turned out to be a very physical, back-and-forth match up.

The Captains freshman midfielder Joy Piirto got the scoring started with 14:30 left in the first half. After Kean goalkeeper Kaitlin King denied two shots, Piirto fired the second rebound past a diving King to give the Captains a 1-0 lead.

The Kean offense nearly evened the score two minutes later when forward Danielle Esposito slipped past two CNU defenders and had only junior goalie Meghan Gumbs to beat. The ever-aggressive Gumbs came charging out of the net, deflected the shot, then jumped on the loose ball before any Kean player had a second chance at it.

It was the first of several highlight-reel saves by Gumbs. The second would come a little over seven minutes later when the Cougars Amanda Repko sprinted past two Captains defenders and fired a low line drive towards the net. Gumbs laid out to her left and grazed the ball with the tips of her fingers. For a moment it looked as though the deflected ball might sneak into the net, but it eventually rolled harmlessly out of bounds.

There were several other times throughout the contest in which the Captains goalie was forced to take on a Kean attacker by herself, and each time she came up with a big save to keep CNU in the game.

The Cougars threatened with a corner kick late in the first half, but were unable to capitalize on the opportunity. The Captains went into the locker room nursing a 1-0 lead.

Kean came out swinging in the second half, netting two goals within the first eight minutes of play. After the second goal, the Captains briefly huddled in front of Gumbs in an attempt to regain lost morale.

“On your toes, blue!” shouted head coach Ruth Keegan, “Play with some energy!”

Freshman Sara Perrett, a lightning-quick forward, came in off the bench and provided that much-needed energy. Nifty footwork and good body position allowed her to push the ball deep into the Cougars zone on multiple occasions. Although none of her crossing passes resulted in points, her high-energy play gave CNU the boost they were looking for. With less than 15 minutes remaining, Piirto netted her second goal of the game on a rebound to even the score at two.

But the game wouldn’t stay tied for long. A little over a minute later, Repko headed a corner kick past Gumbs, giving the Cougars a 3-2 advantage. Gumbs was shielded on the play and never had much of a chance to make the save.

For the last 13 minutes of play, the Cougars limited the Captains scoring chances by playing keep-away. The Captains’ last true chance to even the score came on a corner kick with less than three minutes left, but the ball was headed out of the zone by a Kean defender.

Despite the loss, there were several bright spots for CNU. Three freshman stepped up and made a significant impact on the game. Piirto, from Albemarle High School, notched the first two goals of her collegiate career. Freshman midfielder Kelsey Snyder assisted Piirto on her first goal, and Perrett came off the bench to create several scoring opportunities for the Captains in the second half.

The Captains ended the tournament with a 1-1 record. They defeated West Connecticut State 2-1 in overtime on Saturday before the game against Kean on Sunday. The girls don’t play again until Sunday, Sept. 18, when they take on Roanoke College at home.

Posted by Mike Schoeffel on Sep 14 2011. Filed under Soccer, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.