Claire Ross and Tess O’Connell celebrate after Ross scores in OT to beat St. Louis 1-0. PHOTO CREDIT: Siobhan Richards
For the first time since 2016, the University of Rhode Island Women’s Soccer team has qualified for the Atlantic 10 tournament.
In their last two games to close out the season, the Rams suffered a 3-2 loss to George Mason on Thursday night before stunning the third-place St. Louis Billikens 1-0 in double overtime on Sunday.
Rhody finished the regular season with a 5-4-1 record in the A-10, going 6-8-2 overall.
URI was in a tough position going into their final game of the season. Against the Patriots on Thursday, they took a 2-1 lead after trailing early on. However, George Mason completed the comeback, scoring two unanswered in the second half to eventually win the game. Freshmen Cristina Sallent and Tierra Garniss found the back of the net for the Rams in the loss.
St. Louis had the advantage to start Sunday, with the Rams coming off a loss and losing one of their top players to injury, star midfielder Rebecca D’Anna. The senior had been playing hurt, missing three games throughout the year. D’Anna ultimately did not suit up for Sunday’s game.
The Billikens established some strong possessions throughout, but strong defense by URI kept the score at 0-0 after two halves of play. Sophomore goalkeeper Faith Hutchins had another strong game for Rhody, racking up eight saves and bringing her season total to 64.
“We’ve been good defensively all year,” Rhode Island Head Coach Megan Jessee said. “It was a good defensive effort by the whole team.”
Both senior Tory Bike and junior Emma Derry stood out on defense for the Rams. Derry missed the previous game against the Patriots due to an illness, according to Jessee. Despite this, she returned to the lineup for the match against the Billikens.
“She’s still kind of recovering from that,” Jessee said.
The game went into extra time, but it didn’t take long for the stalemate to finally be broken. In the 92nd minute, junior forward Claire Ross took an open lane and found the top corner of the goal for the deciding score. She gave the Rams their first win over St. Louis since Oct. 1, 2010, punching their ticket to the A-10 tournament.
“I don’t really remember what happened, in all honesty,” she said after the game. “I remember getting back onto the field for the first overtime and our team going, ‘Let’s just make it quick.’”
The game-winning goal was the first of Ross’s career. Fellow junior Laila Rosenthal recorded an assist on the play with a short, behind-the-back pass to set up the winning shot.
“I remember Laila Rosenthal looked at me, passed the ball back, and I just said to myself, ‘the only place this is going is the back of the net,’” Ross said. “I’m glad I buried it.”
URI finished in sixth place in the conference and will start the tournament with a rematch against the Billikens in the quarterfinal round. Defending champions of the last three A-10 championships, St. Louis hopes to add another title, but after Sunday’s win, the Rams feel like they can pull off the upset once more.
“We’re definitely moving in the right direction, we’ve definitely turned that corner where it doesn’t matter who we’re playing in-conference — we can beat them,” Jessee said. “That little last confidence is kind of what we were missing.”
Kickoff is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. at Hermann Stadium and the game can be streamed live on ESPN+.