Freshman Cristina Sallent takes on George Washington’s Isabelle Eskay during last Thursday’s win. Photo Credit Greg Clark
For the first time since 2007, the University of Rhode Island Women’s Soccer team has an undefeated record in conference play to start the season, after collecting points against George Washington and UMass.
Last Thursday’s home matchup with George Washington was highlighted by two Rhode Island goals and a staunt defensive performance from the home team. Junior defender Kelly Fitzgerald and junior midfielder Laila Rosenthal scored their first goals of the season, propelling the Rams to their third overall victory.
The first goal came 20 minutes into the game in a rather unexpected fashion. Tamaki Machi, the George Washington goaltender, was positioned at the top of the 18-yard box. Running along the sideline, Fitzgerald lobbed the ball high and far from midfield, so that it landed just behind Machi, and bounced into the net. Due to her keen exploitation of Machi’s distance from the goal, she was able to get the Rams on the board with a 1-0 lead. Even Rhode Island Women’s Soccer Head Coach Megan Jessee was taken aback by the goal.
“Obviously I wasn’t really expecting that but we’ll take it,” Jessee said.
Rosenthal’s goal was far more conventional, but no less impressive. Receiving a cross from freshman midfielder Hope Santaniello, who was playing in her first game as a Ram, Rosenthal was able to fire a wide open shot to the top left corner of the net to all but cement the lead.
Jessee offered praise for Santinello, acknowledging that getting on the stat sheet with an assist in your first collegiate game “is a huge accomplishment.”
Jessee credited the play to better possession in the second half and the team’s control at the end of the game.
“[George Washington] started going more direct and throwing numbers forward but we had been working on how to kill off a game quite a bit in practice,” she said. “I thought we did a really good job managing the last 10 minutes.”
URI held on to preserve the shutout, with sophomore goalkeeper Faith Hutchins receiving the clean sheet. Her coach called her “one of the reasons why we are undefeated in conference play.”
George Washington left Kingstown with a record of 0-8-1, while the Rams maintained their streak of three consecutive games without allowing a goal before traveling to Amherst for a Sunday matinee match against the UMass Minutewomen.
There, they were abruptly greeted with a goal by UMass’ Karina Groff to end the scoreless streak.
When faced with the deficit, junior forward Brooke Cavino talked about the importance of keeping the intensity up in the game.
“We had to put in all the work, make a difference, and create more so we could get the opportunity to come back,” she said.
Thanks to a Cavino header, senior midfielder Rebecca D’Anna was able to fulfill her teammate’s wishes by making the biggest possible difference: scoring a goal.
For Cavino, it was her first game after an injury and a long week of what she described as “a lot of mental work.” The work paid off, as she believes she was able to create her most chances of the season so far.
The team is proud of their accomplishments, but want to improve their game. According to Jessee, the key to that will be making other teams work.
“If we can keep the ball more and make the other teams run and use a lot more energy, I think we will open up a lot more attacks.”
The Rams will travel to La Salle tonight before returning home for a 2 p.m. matchup with Fordham on Sunday. They hope to continue their success and climb in the Atlantic 10 standings.