The final blow of the whistle in Philadelphia on Sunday signaled the end of a dismal weekend for the Massachusetts women’s soccer team. When the dust had settled, it was Temple that collected the spoils with a 2-0 win over the Minutewomen.
The loss meant three more crucial points went to an opponent, with the Atlantic 10 championship drawing near. Before the weekend games, UMass coach Ed Matz declared “anything less than at least four points” would be a “disappointing” result.
Now the head coach and his team will return from the road trip with zero points from their road trip.
“If we get six that’s a great weekend, if we get four it’s a good weekend, and three or less is OK,” Matz said. “But to come away with none it is a very disappointing weekend for us.”
Two goals allowed by goalkeeper Emily Cota in the first half prompted a change in goalies as former starter Stephanie Gordon took over in the second half. Gordon hadn’t played since the 2-0 defeat against Virginia Tech on Sept. 9.
“Emily’s performance wasn’t as strong as we’ve come to expect, but then again neither was our team’s,” Matz said. “We thought that halftime would be a good opportunity to put Stephanie in, especially because we were pressing, going for broke trying to get a goal. So we were sending numbers up and Stephanie is a little better with her feet.”
The Owls (5-9-2, 2-3 A-10) struck first in the 29th minute, amid a period of play where UMass (7-8, 2-3 A-10) was dominating the shot chart. Paula Jurewicz provided the ball for Alyssa Kirk who tucked her first goal of the season into the net to give Temple an early lead.
Just eight minutes later, the gap widened.
The Minutewomen conceded a corner kick and Karly O’Toole took the set-piece. She sent a ball into Jordan Brill who finished to double the lead.
Not only is the team missing players to injury, but impact players Hlin Gunnlaugsdottir and Tori Sousa are away from the team for personal reasons. Matz said these injuries and absences have led the team to reach a boiling point.
“We’ve been able to overcome some of the difficulties this year at home,” Matz said. “But this weekend things just caught up to us. We didn’t play well, and we weren’t able to overcome some of these things that were happening to us.”
It was the first time in more than a year that the Owls scored more than once in a single game.
UMass outshot the Owls throughout the first period of play, 11-5, and for the game, 19-17, forcing freshman goalkeeper Shauni Kerkhoff to make eight saves.
Despite the outcome, Matz said he never thought his team had lost hope mentally or physically.
“We could see their heads go down, but I do believe we picked up our play,” Matz said. “We put a lot of pressure on, and threw a lot things at the Temple goalkeeper, and she played well.”
With just four just four games to go before the postseason, the Minutewomen find themselves on the outside looking in, as they fell to ninth place in the A-10 standings.
Minutewomen dropped by Hawks
Moa Mattsson’s team-leading eighth goal of the season proved to be too little, too late, as the Minutewomen fell to Saint Joseph’s, 2-1, on Friday night.
Mo Hawkins scored her sixth goal of the season and added an assist, as the Hawks (8-5-2, 3-1-1 A-10) survived on their home turf.
The win moved SJU ahead of UMass in the A-10 standings, as the regular season heads down the homestretch toward the conference tournament.
The Hawks went in front in the 34th minute when Taylor Mallory and Morgan Duffy combined to put Hawkins in position to score. The junior took her chance and fired into the upper left-hand corner to increase her team-leading goal tally.
SJU doubled its lead when a through ball from Mo Hawkins led to a scramble in front of the goal. Kersten Formento found her way onto the end of the pass and then took the shot at the last moment before colliding with a UMass defender.
With just six seconds left to play, Mattsson put the Minutewomen on the board, but the strike was the last meaningful touch of the game. Jen Coppola provided the ball to the Swedish striker, who fired into the upper right corner.
For Matz, the goal was more than just a consolation prize.
“I was very proud of my team,” Matz said. “We gave up two goals, went down by two, and to us that is a huge deficit. But they didn’t stop fighting, and that is always a good thing to see as a coaching staff.”
The Minutewomen now have to move their focus off the lost points, and on to Charlotte, who come to Amherst tied for second in the A-10 standings. The teams will kick-off at 1 p.m. Friday afternoon at Rudd Field.
Jeffrey Okerman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_Okerman.
