Matching their previous victories, UR women’s soccer team secured a 7-0 winning streak by shutting out Rochester Institute of Technology 2-0 on Monday.
In the latter half of the contest, junior forward Allison Collins put the Yellowjackets ahead with her goal as a result of a penalty kick.The team, however, had to overcome some challenges to pull ahead.
Head Coach Terry Gurnett explained that the team had to be “patient enough to play against a team that was defending in its own end. “RIT is a good team with a good record, and I knew we had to come out and play well to beat them.”
UR was able to hold off RIT and managed to add another goal to the scoreboard on a header by sohpomore forward Kristin Kelly.Sophomore midfielder Karen Forsythe took the corner kick.Action on the forward line kept UR ahead and the defense held off scoring by RIT.UR goalie and junior Sarah Malecki had one save for the team.”Defensively, we were able to dispossess them and spread the game out,” Gurnett said.
The intensity grew in the second half of the game when the team picked up momentum with two goals. , According to Gurnett the second halfwas more consistent and the team came together to adjust to the situation and ultimately defeat RIT.
Forsythe agreed, commenting that “in the second half, the entire team just picked up our speed of play and our heads were in the game more ? we played a lot more and it showed.” Senior athletes on the team showed “senior leadership,” according to Gurnett, especially in the second half of the game. These individuals include Megan Barritt and Amy Kelmenson, both wingbacks for UR.
The game was especially significant to UR because of the local rivalry. “The uniqueness is that it is a local game and they were highly motivated to beat us because of the local rivalry,” Gurnett said. The women play New York University this Saturday to defend the team’s undefeated record.
“Our next two games are huge,” Forsythe said.”NYU and Emory are in our conference so it is the beginning of conference play.This is where it starts because these are the opponents that are going to give us the biggest challenge.”
Josephson can be reached at ejosephson@campustimes.org.
