Women's Soccer Home-Opener goes to Overtime; Comets slip past 3-2
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas women's soccer team (1-3) fell 3-2 in overtime on Wednesday night versus University of Texas at Dallas (4-0). A 30-minute rain delay created a wet, sloppy field, as the Lady Crusaders opened at home for the first time this fall.
The Lady Crusaders trailed 1-0 at halftime and were outshot 15-2 in the first stanza. However, Dallas fought back in the second half, tallying six of their eight shot attempts, and putting two on target. UD tied the match early in the frame at the 47:07 minute mark on a long goal from the far left side by senior Abigale Weisbrod (Mesquite, Texas). It was the midfielder's first goal of the campaign and came on an assist from freshman Mason Cosgrove (Las Cruces, N.M.).
After a back-and-forth battle throughout the second half, Dallas broke ahead with a scoring play by sophomore Mackenzie Vasile (San Antonio, Texas) from freshman Samantha Deitschel (San Antonio, Texas) on the assist. The pair of Lady Crusaders outhustled UTD and were able to sneak a loose ball past the goalkeeper and into an empty net. The sequence occurred at the 83:17 portion of the game.
The Comets notched an equalizer off a corner kick that was started by Melissa Fulfer – who cracked all 11 of the team's corners – and Rachel Mullen was able to capitalize on the header that landed in the upper middle of the net.
From there, a deadlock in regulation sent the contest to overtime for the second-straight meeting between the programs. The previous game was on October 4, 2014 in Irving, Texas.
Kaufmann logged the points off her golden foot two minutes and six seconds into extra time, which propelled the visitors to a 3-2 final.
Texas-Dallas had gained early momentum, taking 15 shots compared to UD's two in the first 45 minutes of play. Still, the home squad trailed 1-0 at intermission despite the shooting margin differential. The Comets lone goal occurred at the 23:37 mark from Megan Mugavero. Jacqueline Kaufman was credited with the assist and would finish with a team-high, three points.
Leading the Lady Crusaders was Vasile with two shots and one on goal for her first of the year. Also tallying shots for the Navy and White included: junior Cascade Mayer (Kapaa, Hawaii), sophomore Alice Nelson (Jackson, Tenn.), sophomore Taylor Ray (Cypress, Texas), sophomore Lauren Hood (Bedford, Texas), Deitschel, and Weisbrod.
Dallas was outshot 26-8, but would only be nipped 10-6 in that category in the second half. The Lady Crusader's lone corner kick, which was taken by Nelson, happened in overtime at the 91:12 minute point.
Sophomore Elena Naccari (Covington, La.) was saddled with the loss (1-3), and tied her second highest season total in saves with 10. It is the third match, the keeper has garnered double-digit save numbers, and she nabbed eight in the first half of Wednesday's game.
The Comets' were led offensively by Kaufman and Mugavero with six shot attempts each and posted four and three shots on goal, respectively. Fulfer kicked the next highest amount of attempts with two of her three overall on goal. A quartet of players for UTD finished with multi-shot contests including: Jessica Rusk, Millie Atkins, MaKayla Forsberg, and Mullen. Monica Dallacasa picked up the win in 92:06 minutes of goalkeeping.
UP NEXT:
Dallas continues its season-long, five-match home stretch with two this weekend. On Saturday, September 12 the Lady Crusaders host Lewis & Clark College at 5 p.m. The next day on Sept. 13, UD faces off with George Fox University (OR) at 4 p.m. Both contests are part of the Dallas Challenge.