Women's Soccer Edged in Thrilling SCAC Opener
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas women's soccer team came up short in a 3-2 nailbiter to Johnson & Wales University (CO) on a wet night for the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) opener. The Crusaders answered the first two goals by the visitors, but Rebecca Brock was able to net the go-ahead goal in the 67th minute.
Dallas outshot the Wildcats 18-12, including an 11-5 advantage in the second half. This included five shots within the remaining 10 minutes of regulation. With time ticking off the clock, Lexi Tocci (Austin, Texas) provided a cross from the right side to Elisa Duran (Pomona, Calif.). Her shot nearly tied the game as it hit off the right post. Maddie Rodriguez (Houston, Texas) followed on the rebound, but her attempt rolled just wide left as time expired to finish the home opener after a one hour and 45 minute weather delay.
The teams played even through halftime with a scoreless first and seven shots apiece. The offense erupted on both sides as the first three goals were tallied within 3:11 minutes. Katherine Owings put the Wildcats on the board at the 52:36 minute mark to ignite the trio of goals. Brock assisted that scoring play.
Dallas knotted the score at 54:43 on May Lien Le's (Katy, Texas) first collegiate goal. Duran and Whitney Jackson (Pryor, Okla.) assisted the equalizer.
A successful penalty kick by Natasha Martin in the 56th minute put JWU back on top.
Jackson responded less than five minutes later as Bekah Gonzalez (Reno, Nev.) placed a free kick where the 2017 leading scorer was able to find the back of the net the first time in the young season.
Martin was able to get involved again on the final goal registered by Brock to secure the team's first win in an SCAC match.
Katelyn Peters earned the win in goal for Johnson & Wales with three saves in 90 minutes. Natalie Kutac (Bulverde, Texas) was saddled her first loss of the campaign after allowing her first goals of 2018. She played the full 90 minutes as well.
The Wildcats moved to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in SCAC play, while Dallas fell to 0-2-1 overall and 0-1 against league opponents.
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Dallas will play Howard Payne University at 7 p.m. on Saturday.