The Massachusetts women’s soccer team dropped to 0-2 early in the season on Thursday afternoon, falling 3-2 at the hands of Army. After getting shutout in their season opener against Syracuse, the Minutewomen (0-2) took a huge step forward offensively against the Black Knights (2-1), but struggled defensively again, allowing a game that was within reach to fall out of their grasp in the second half.
After battling back from an early 2-0 deficit, everything seemed to be bouncing in UMass’ direction as the clock reached the midway point of the second half. Chandler Pedolzky tied the game at two with her first goal of the season in the 58th minute, and the Minutewomen offense produced a number of high-quality chances.
But in the 68th minute, the Black Knights decided they wouldn’t let UMass complete its unlikely comeback. Army midfielder Cami Silvestro picked off an attempted clearing pass from a Minutewomen defender about 10 yards out from the 18-yard box and immediately set her sights on a shot.
From about 25 yards out, Silvestro blasted a rocket of a shot with her right leg that caught UMass goaltender Bella Mendoza off-guard and sailed into the top right corner of the net.
Silvestro’s goal stood as the game-winner, as a late but ultimately, unsuccessful comeback attempt from the Minutewomen wasn’t enough to knot the game up late.
Just like in the first game of the season against Syracuse, UMass found itself in a two-goal deficit within the first 25 minutes of the first half. Army freshman Bella Conti picked up both of the Black Knights’ goals in the half, the first two of her college career.
“[We] started off too casual, dug a big old hole for ourselves,” UMass head coach Jason Dowiak said. “What I said to the group at the end, is that we can’t be a technical team only or an engaged, intense team only. We can’t be one or the other, we have to have elements of both, and we did not.”
The major improvement the Minutewomen made from their first to their second game was their ability to finish scoring plays. UMass outshot Syracuse by a wide margin one week ago, but was stymied by its inability to capitalize on its prime scoring chances.
Sophomore Caroline Dickson scored the first Minutewomen goal of the season toward the end of the first half, to cut into the deficit going into the break. Dickson tapped in a pass from graduate student Grace Pinkus, who had rushed the ball into the 18-yard box.
Along with the goal, Dickson was one of the players Dowiak credited with shifting the team’s intensity when she was inserted into the game off the bench.
“[Dickson] is capable of doing some real big damage on the field for us,” Dowiak said. “She works really hard; she’s got some scary pace to press teams and obviously get in behind too. Really proud of her attitude and her energy to be able to come in and influence a change in the game and she’s got to keep focusing on improving technically in certain moments to take advantage of those other skill sets she has.”
Pedolzky scored the other of the UMass goals, the game-tying goal at the time. Pedolzky received a cross from freshman Sophia Foley and beat Army goaltender Sage Strohman straight up with a shot through her five-hole as she dove towards Pedolzky.
UMass will have a chance to regroup for a couple of days before it takes on its second power five opponent of the season, Rutgers, on Sunday. Kickoff of the season opener at Rudd Field is set for 1 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.
Matt Skillings can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter/X @matt_skillings.
