JOLIET, Ill. -- After allowing three unanswered goals in the first half to NCAA DIII Concordia University Chicago, the University of St Francis women's soccer team stormed back with four scores of their own during the second half to seal a dramatic 4-3 victory over the Cougars at Joliet Memorial Stadium on Tuesday night. With the win, the Saints improve to 3-3-0 on the year.
First Half
Both offenses came out firing throughout the first 20 minutes of play, with USF edging out Concordia (1-3-0) with seven shots to six, respectively. The Cougars would open the scoring, however, in the 22nd minute when a CUC free kick accounted for the first goal of the night, finding the upper righthand corner of the USF net. Concordia would quickly double its scoring margin three minutes later when a corner kick resulted in a successful header to put the guests up by two. Despite being outshot by St. Francis 15 to 13 in the half, the Cougars would add one more tally to their scoring total at the 31:39 mark to up their advantage to 3-0. The final 13 minutes saw six more shots by USF, but none would find the back of the CUC net, solidifying the 3-0 score at the halftime break.
Second Half
Concordia pulled back their offense in favor of a more defensive scheme in the second half, with the Cougars only taking a total of three shots in the final 45 minutes. Down by three scores and needing to catch up quickly, USF continued their offensive attack and started chipping away at the lead with a breakaway goal by
Carisma Rosales in the 52nd minute. CUC would see their final shot of the match in the 70th minute, which was saved by USF keeper
Giselle Mata, who - along with the play of the Saints' defenders in the second half - allowed St. Francis to stay on the attack for the rest of the match. After an ill-timed foul from Concordia during the 72nd minute in the box,
Ariadne Gonzalez buried the penalty shot to cut the Cougars' lead to just one. USF then wasted no time equalizing the game, with its very next shot in the 76th minute off the foot of
Isabel Diez knotting the score at three a piece. Rosales, who was subbed back into the game at the 85:15 mark, would score the go-ahead goal less than one minute later on a floater over the CUC keeper's head. The four unanswered goals by USF in the second half mark the most goals scored in a half, as well as in a game for the Saints this season.
USF would finish the night with almost double the amount of shots taken with 31 compared to the Cougars' 16. This was also reflected with shots on goal, with the Saints recording 13 to Concordia's seven.
Up Next
The Fighting Saints will travel to Columbus, Ind. on Saturday (Sept.12) for a non-conference matchup against Indiana University Columbus. Kickoff is slatted for a 1 pm CST start.
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