The University of Rhode Island women’s soccer team made history with Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament wins over Virginia Commonwealth University on Friday and Saint Louis University on Wednesday to clinch a spot in the conference championship.
URI earned its first A-10 Tournament victory since 2006 after defeating VCU 2-1 on Friday night in the A-10 Tournament quarterfinals.
In the 34th minute, URI third-year forward Lauren MacDonald took a shot from the top of the 18-yard box. The ball soared through the air, past VCU fourth-year goalkeeper Mia Pongratz and into the top right corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.
Just three minutes later, URI fourth-year defender Sarah Yee sprinted toward a loose ball and got there in time to put it into the net for the insurance goal to give Rhody a 2-0 lead going into halftime.
Less than three minutes into the second half, VCU second-year midfielder Keira McCloskey got the pass from first-year forward Isabelle Franklin, and McCloskey put her shot past URI fourth-year goalkeeper Dani Eden into the back of the net to cut Rhody’s lead to one goal.
URI’s defense held VCU to just one shot on goal the rest of the game, which Eden saved.
As soon as the air horn sounded to mark the 2-1 victory for Rhody, the bench rushed to hug their teammates in celebration. The celebration wouldn’t last too long, though, as the Rams started their preparations for a match against the Billikens in the semifinals.
“It means the world to me,” Yee said about the win. “[I’m a] senior, captain [and it’s] my final season here. I love this team, I love these people, I play for them and it means everything to us to get to that next round.”
URI headed to St. Louis, Missouri, on Wednesday night, where it defeated the Billikens 4-2 in the A-10 semifinal. It was a rematch of an Oct. 19 match at the URI Soccer Complex in which the Rams were defeated 4-1 in their worst loss of the season.
Saint Louis got on the scoreboard first with a goal from sixth-year midfielder/forward Hannah Larson in the 11th minute for a 1-0 Billikens lead. Fifth-year forward/midfielder Julia Simon assisted Larson with a perfectly placed pass after avoiding multiple URI defenders.
With just over five minutes left in the half, URI third-year midfielder Courtney Poon passed the ball to third-year forward Jill Rosenfeld, who was along the edge of the left sideline. Rosenfeld only needed two touches after the pass to find her spot halfway between the sideline and the 18-yard box to take the shot. Rosenfeld put enough curve and power on her shot to get the ball in between the outstretched hands of a leaping Billikens second-year goalkeeper Emma Parker and the crossbar to tie the game at 1-1. The goal was the first of Rosenfeld’s season.
About eight and a half minutes into the second half, MacDonald got the ball at midfield and sprinted past her defender along the left sideline. She took two quick touches inside the 18-yard box and put her shot past a diving Parker and into the back of the net for the 2-1 lead, giving URI its first lead.
In a switching of positions from Saint Louis’s first goal, Larson crossed the ball into the middle of the 18-yard box for Simon, who snuck it past Eden to tie the game at 2-2 in the 63rd minute. Just three minutes later, Rhody answered back with second-year forward/midfielder Kaia Rice putting her shot into the bottom left corner of the net after a failed clearance by Saint Louis.
MacDonald added an insurance goal 10 minutes later as she stole the ball after another failed clearance from Saint Louis before putting her shot from well outside the 18-yard box over a leaping Parker and into the back of the net.
The 4-2 victory was URI’s first-ever win as the away team against Saint Louis. The victory also secured Rhody’s spot in the A-10 final for the first time since 2005, which was a 1-0 loss to Saint Louis.
“I wasn’t thinking we were going to score four goals,” URI Head Coach Megan Jessee said in a postgame interview with ESPN+. “I knew we had it in us, and [MacDonald came] up huge with two goals, and [Rosenfeld, who’s] been out for over a month with a broken foot, and to come in and score her first goal of the year… you can’t really ask for more.”
The Rams will travel to Dayton, Ohio, where they will take on the University of Dayton on Sunday at 12 p.m. in search of their first conference title in program history. The game will stream on ESPN+.
