No. 3 Pilots get a scare, but answer with victories over Rutgers and Penn St.
By Kyle Cape-Lindelin, Staff Writer -- capelind13@up.edu
As the games go on for the Pilots women's soccer team, it is becoming more evident that this is a second half scoring team rather than last year's strike-first-and-often team.
You won't hear any complaints from Head Coach Garrett Smith as his team remains undefeated at 8-0-0 after beating No. 24 Rutgers 2-1 and Penn State 4-2 in nailbiting victories at the Nike Invitational at Merlo Field on Sept. 10 and 12.
Portland faces No. 6 Texas A&M at home this Fri., Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. Texas A&M was the only team to beat UP last year during the regular season with a 3-1 win, but senior team captain Keelin Winters isn't afraid of facing yet another tough team.
"We just can't go down a goal, we've done it in a few games this year and we were able to rebound, but knowing what Texas A&M does and brings to the table, that can't happen next week," Winters said.
The No. 3 Pilots first squared off against Rutgers on Sept. 10 in front of a crowd of over 3,000.
Freshmen Micaela Capelle and Ellen Parker got the first starts of their careers for the Pilots with Capelle playing forward and Parker starting as a midfielder. Capelle answered the call once again offensively with the Pilots looking for goals in the first half.
Winters initiated the play, passing the ball to Capelle on the right side of the box. Capelle took the pass before shooting it into the left goalpost at a sharp angle to take the lead in the 16th minute.
Rutgers responded in the 28th minute on a hustle play, when their forward Karla Schacher beat UP freshman goalkeeper Erin Dees to the ball after a blocked service kick, setting up only the third goal allowed by Dees this year.
The second half of the game was filled with back-and-forth action with both teams having plenty of offensive opportunities. In the 85th minute, senior defender Elli Reed sent a cross pass into the six-yard box. Capelle headed the pass toward the goal and junior Halley Kreminski headed it in the open net to finish off the Scarlett Knights 2-1.
"This is still very much a feeling out process that's meant to get everyone ready for the playoffs and show us where we're at competitively. Obviously our record shows that we're right there but we're not satisfied," Smith said following the Pilots' victory over Rutgers.
Facing off against Penn State on Sept. 12, the Pilots gave junior goalkeeper Hailee DeYoung her first start of the season coming off of an injury. Penn State took advantage of this and attacked DeYoung throughout the game, drawing first blood with a goal in the 40th minute when Penn State freshman Maya Hayes split two UP defenders and faked out DeYoung.
The Pilots caught a break with 35 seconds left in the first half as senior Sophie Schmidt was fouled in Penn State's box. This set up a penalty kick by junior Danielle Foxhoven, which she easily drilled to tie the game up going into halftime 1-1. Foxhoven is now 6-6 in penalty kicks for her career.
Penn State retaliated in the 48th minute as they too were awarded a penalty kick from the officials. Penn State sophomore Christine Nairn touched in a goal past DeYoung to resume the lead 2-1.
Any momentum Penn State built up vanished when the Pilots turned up the intensity following being down for the second time. The Pilots scored three unanswered goals in the final 20 minutes while clenching down on Penn State defensively.
Freshman Michelle Cruz evened the score to 2-2 with the first goal of her career in the 53rd minute, heading in a shot from Schmidt. The assist went to Schmidt which made her only the 10th player in UP history to record 100 points in her career. The assist also allowed her to become only the seventh player in UP history to reach 30 goals and 30 assists in a career.
Capelle continued her hot offensive performance this season with another game-defining goal in the 55th minute. Capelle beat Penn State goalkeeper by using her speed one-on-one and softly finished it on the left side for her team-leading sixth goal of the season.
"Keelin and Sophie take a lot of pressure off me and the rest of the team so it creates more space and open looks," Capelle said after the Penn State win. "They make the whole team comfortable and it kind of makes the offense flow easier when the opponent doubles them."
Smith agrees that he likes the fight he sees in his team when it's behind.
"It really shows the competitiveness these girls have and that even when they go down, they're still trying to put pressure on the opponent's defense instead of becoming passive. This is a team that, when it's pushed, will push back harder," he said.
Winters capped the win with a header for a goal in the 66th minute from Cruz's service pass. It was Winters' second goal of the season and the final nail in Penn State's coffin.
"It felt awesome, just made us more comfortable as the game went on knowing that we had that cushion and we absorbed their pressure a little better," Winters said of her goal.
The Pilots outshot both Rutgers and Penn State 37-14 combined. The four goals scored against Penn State was a game-high this season, while the eight wins this year is the third most in team history.
Schmidt was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Offensive Player and redshirt freshman Cloee Colohan was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Defensive Player. Capelle also was awarded the WCC Player of Week for her performances.
