The University of Rhode Island women’s soccer team picked up a 2-0 win over Davidson College on Sunday to extend its unbeaten streak to four games and jump into third place in the Atlantic 10 Conference standings with 13 conference points.
Rhode Island came into Sunday’s game in fourth place in the standings, holding onto a narrow three-point lead over Davidson, who was in fifth. Out of the 14 teams in the A-10, the top eight earn a spot in the A-10 Tournament. With only four games remaining in the regular season, this match had crucial playoff implications for both teams.
URI opened the scoring in the 10th minute. Third-year Courtney Poon set up fellow third-year Lauren MacDonald, who blasted a ball into the top right corner of the net to give the Rams a 1-0 lead.
The Rhode Island defense was able to tame the Wildcats’ offense in the first half, limiting them to only two shots and shutting them out. URI outshot Davidson 10-2 in the first half and controlled the ball for the majority of it. Rhode Island had multiple opportunities to add to its first-half lead with five corner kicks, but Davidson first-year goalkeeper Grace Stair made four saves in the half to keep it a one-nil game.
In the second half, the URI defense picked up where they left off. Davidson only tallied two shots in the entire half, and neither were shots on goal. However, Rhode Island still couldn’t add to the lead, leaving the door open for Davidson.
However, in the 84th minute, fourth-year Sarah Yee slammed the door shut with her first career goal and gave the URI sideline a sigh of relief, making it 2-0.
Rhody held on to win the game 2-0 and improved to 10-3-1 on the season. History was also made on Sunday, as URI third-year goalkeeper Dani Eden set a program record by collecting her ninth shutout of the season. This broke the record of eight shutouts set by Jamie Epperlein in 2001. Eden didn’t exactly have her work cut out for her to earn the clean sheet. She only had to make two saves on the day to break the program record for most shutouts in a season.
“Every single game [the defense is] top-notch,” Eden said. “I honestly think they’re one of the best defenses in the entire NCAA. They’re limiting as many shots as they possibly can, and they make my job super easy.”
With the win, URI also got some revenge after a 2-0 loss to Davidson in the final game of last season, which prevented the Rams from qualifying for the A-10 Tournament. Rhode Island only needed a draw in order to qualify.
“This was definitely one of those games that you circle a little bit more on the calendar,” URI Head Coach Megan Jessee said. “The win feels a little bit nicer; no doubt this is definitely a good win in a lot of ways.”
URI is back on the pitch on Thursday, Oct. 16, when it takes a trip to the nation’s capital to take on George Washington University at 3 p.m. Rhody will look to push their unbeaten streak to five games and continue their postseason pursuit of the A-10 Tournament. The game will stream on ESPN+.
