Four days after its last come-from-behind win against George Mason, the Massachusetts women’s soccer team strung together another miraculous effort Sunday against the Saint Joseph’s Hawks.
Facing a two-goal deficit for most of the game, the Minutewomen, again, did what they do best by tacking on multiple last-minute goals. In an eight-minute window from the 73rd to the 81st minute mark, UMass (5-3-2 overall, 2-1-0 Atlantic 10) scored three goals to recapture the lead, securing the 4-3 victory over St. Joe’s (4-6-1 overall, 1-2-0 A-10).
“The last two weeks, our motto has been ‘find a way,’” coach Jason Dowiak said. “We’ve been playing really good soccer, but not rewarding ourselves early enough in games.”
UMass opened up the score in 24th minute off the foot of Lauren Bonavita, giving the away team a 1-0 lead — an advantage they wouldn’t control again until there were ten minutes left in regulation.
“Although we get a little animated on the sideline, we have so much confidence in our team to create chances,” Dowiak said. “The girls have finally started to buy in on the concept of finding a way.”
Breakout German U-19 national team player and Minutewoman, Melissa Kössler, continued to amaze the women’s collegiate soccer world, scoring twice on Sunday. Junior Fatou Barry contributed with a goal, as well, her first of the season.
“[Barry] added a lot of intense pressure on St. Joe’s today,” Dowiak said. “That was something that we talked to her about before we put her on in the first half. She caused a couple of dangerous moments by forcing turnovers near their goal.”
Barry forced a UMass corner kick at the 80-minute mark for Ansley Frazier. Subsequently, Kössler headed the kick to the far post for Barry to tip in, evening out the score at 3-3.
“She’s been doing better and better every week for us,” Dowiak said. “We’re hoping that that example is something more and more of the players — as they get their opportunities — take advantage of.”
Disregarding the victory for a moment, UMass has struggled all season long with having their opponents capitalize on penalty kicks too frequently — their opponents this year have converted on four of five penalty kicks. On Sunday, the Hawks scored twice off of penalty shot opportunities.
“We’re not really looking too far into why [the converted penalty kicks against us] happened,” Dowiak said. “We know why it happened.”
Dowiak, instead, prefers to talk about the things his team can control.
“Peyton [Ryan] made a couple of amazing saves in the second half to keep us in it,” Dowiak said. “The back line also saved one off of Ryan to keep the score close. The great thing about the group is that they don’t let little mistakes or individual moments take precedent where it weighs on them so much that they can’t play through.”
The only save of the game was recorded by the UMass defensive unit; Ryan would face three other shots on net, letting all of them slip through.
UMass’ 15 shots-on-goal were overwhelmingly contrasted by St. Joe’s mere four. Naturally, the Hawks would boast a high number of saves, totaling 11.
The Minutewomen will be back in action Thursday as they travel down to the nation’s capital to square off against George Washington. Match set to start at 3 p.m.
Ryan Beaton can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @ry_beaton.
