Despite having been unbeaten since Sept. 21, the University of Rhode Island women’s soccer team fell 5-0 on Saturday when they hosted the number one team in the Atlantic 10, St. Louis University.
This leaves Rhode Island sitting at 7th in the conference with an A-10 record of 3-2-3. It was also Rhode Island’s annual breast cancer awareness game, featuring pink warm-up shirts and accessories for players.
The match didn’t take long before the box score filled up. The first ten minutes of play were fairly even, with both teams netting one shot apiece. Things changed when forward Emily Gaebe received a through pass, and was able to capitalize on Rhody’s mistakes in a one-on-one situation. She would score, assisted by Emily Groark in the tenth minute. Both teams matched each other’s energy for the next 25 minutes of play, going back and forth on possessions, and playing on both ends of the pitch. This would be until the Billikens scored again in the 33rd minute thanks to an Alyssa Bockius shot, assisted by Izzy Luebert. Entering the second half, the score sat at 2-0.
The Rams defense was under fire immediately into the second half. By the 56th minute, the Billikens would put up eight shots. Despite this barrage of offense, the Rams were able to keep a third goal off the board. After a Sophia Stram corner kick and a pass from Hannah Larson, a goal from Caroline Kelly in the 60th minute would put the Billikens up 3-0. St. Louis would tack on two more goals by full time. In the 66th minute, Abbie Miller one-touched a shot coming off a cross from Katie Houck. Finally, in the 85th minute, Hannah Sawyer rubbed salt in the wound, sealing the game with a point blank header. This officially completed their shutout of the Rams.
St. Louis outshot Rhode Island 35-5 and took eight corners to Rhody’s one. Only two of Rhode Island’s shots would be on target. Those shots would come from first-year Lauren McDonald, who was recently named GoRhody Athlete of the Week, and from third-year Sam Hagarty.
“As a team, we’ve been going to get extra work out on the field, just putting in extra work to make those chances,” Hagarty said.
Prior to Saturday, the Rams hadn’t lost a match since Sept. 21, which was a home loss to Atlantic 10 foe, Duquesne that ended 1-0. This can be attributed to the Rams defense, which has been “so good all year,” according to head coach Megan Jessee.
“I think there’s stuff to learn, we’ll do that and move on,” Jessee said. “But it is what it is. I think it was a bad day, we did a lot of things today that we hadn’t done all year. Faith [Hutchins] played great in goal, she made some really great saves to keep the score where it was. We’ll watch the film and we’ll learn.”
Fourth-year goalkeeper Faith Hutchins had 11 saves that afternoon, a season high. She remained in net until the final whistle blew.
Rhody only has two more games to go following the loss – One on the road against Richmond on Thursday, and their season-closer against Dayton on October 22nd.
“[We’re going to] put this game behind us and focus on the next two games,” Hagarty said. “[we have to] get wins in those games.”
In the closing weeks of the regular season, every game seems more and more important to a mid-seeded team trying to sneak into the conference tournament.