Reeh's Golden Goal Lifts Women's Soccer over Centenary Sunday
IRVING, Texas – It was Chelsea Reeh (Boerne, Texas) that got the University of Dallas women's soccer team (3-8, 1-5 SCAC) its first goal in conference play. The freshman and team's leading shot taker banked (coming into Sunday) her first collegiate goal off the far left post from across the box in the ninth minute. After a 3-3 tie in regulation, Reeh was in the right spot and completed the heroics on a golden goal at the 96:02 minute mark to lift the Crusaders in a 4-3 overtime triumph against Centenary College (5-5, 2-4 SCAC) on Sunday.
Dallas had gone scoreless the last six matches, but Reeh's goal from Mariana Burciaga (Forney, Texas) and Mason Cosgrove (Las Cruces, N.M.) ended the stretch. The home team was able to boost the momentum and doubled the advantage on Elisa Duran's (Pomona, Calif.) third goal of the campaign in the 21st minute. She was able to create space and beat the keeper left in a one-on-one play.
The Ladies did not go away, as the SCAC's leading scorer KatiJayde Cunningham scored in the 28th minute. Less than two minutes later, the Maroon and White knotted the scoreboard with Serena Gallegos jarring away a loose ball from UD's goalie and kicking the game-tying point. 2-2 was the halftime tally.
Both squads battled the majority of the final 45 minutes trying to get a game winner. The Crusaders broke the deadlock at the 81:37 mark on Samantha Haeick's (Las Vegas, Nev.) header. It was her first goal of the year and career, as the forward completed a cross from Burciaga. Duran began the sequence with a pass to gain the second assist.
It was not over yet as Centenary got an equalizer from Gallegos. Olivia Jackson sent a shot from a free kick that bounced off the cross bar. A leaping Olivia Severson (La Crosse, Wis.) could not recover as Gallegos finished the rebound on the right side of the goal. With two and a half minutes remaining in the stanza, the Crusaders were playing their first overtime match since the conference quarterfinal in 2015.
In overtime, the guests appeared to have the first look at winning the match as Cunningham beat the defense to the right, but the ball clanked off the post and offsides was whistled on the Ladies after trying to recover for another effort. Duran posted a pair of shots on goal before dealing a cross pass on the far right side of the field that was gloved by Centenary's Erica Coker. The keeper didn't maintain a handle and Reeh was right there to bounce the golden goal.
UD played extra time twice last season at Crusader Field and both resulted in draws. The last time the program won in overtime was 2014 with a pair of 1-0 decisions. Dallas' most recent victory in such games was on October 10 at Schreiner University. The last home overtime win was September 19 against Southwestern University.
The Crusaders improved to 5-0 against Centenary at home in the overall series.
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- Dallas posted a team-high in shots (24) against SCAC foes. UD had double-digits attempts in both regular frames at 10 and 11, respectively. The home team had 14 shots on target.
- The Crusaders took six of their eight corner kicks in the second half. They edged Centenary 8-4.
- Duran notched career-highs in shot attempts (10) and shots on goal (6). Reeh had a perfect shot on goal percentage with three total attempts.
- Cascade Mayer (Kapaa, Hawaii), Kasaundra Eason (Henderson, Nev.), and Mackenzie Vasile (San Antonio, Texas) both had multi-shot games. Mayer's had a pair of shots on goal out of four attempts. Eason and Vasile each went 50 percent on the shots on goal-clip.
- Elena Naccari made the start and played 45 minutes between the posts. Her six saves lifted the junior and former conference Newcomer of the Year (2014) and Defensive Player of the Year (2015) to over 250 career saves.
- Severson (1-2) notched her first collegiate goalie win by making three saves in the final 51:02 minutes of play. She has appeared in the past four games, including two starts.
- The first three plays of the match (2:21 minutes) were offsides (two for Centenary and one for UD).
- Centenary took 19 shots and had 12 on goal. Cunningham led the way with a team-high six and matched a game-high six shots on frame.
- Coker was saddled with the loss and had 10 saves in 96:02 minutes.
QUOTABLE
"I am just really happy for my team to come out here and work together finally and find our comradery and passion…I hope it sets the tempo for the rest of season." –Chelsea Reeh on the result.
UP NEXT
Dallas wraps up a five-game home stand next Friday on Oct. 7 against Schreiner University. Kickoff is at 4 p.m. after the men's tilt.