This past weekend, the UNH women’s soccer team had mixed results in their return to the annual TD Bank Classic in Burlington, VT.
The ‘Cats were sitting pretty after an impressive 3-1 victory over Merrimack College on Saturday in which they displayed toughness and resiliency on multiple occasions. Despite that, they couldn’t close out the weekend with a victory as they suffered a nail-biting 1-0 defeat to North Dakota State.
The first match for the Wildcats was against an inferior Merrimack team, but the ability to fight through adversity was evident enough to be excited about the result.
UNH showed promise in the opening minutes, as they put pressure on the Warriors’ defense, putting a shot on goal and another just over it.
Despite the early suffocation, in the 10th minute Merrimack sophomore midfielder Erin Tyldesley benefitted from a pinball sequence off a corner kick, and she squeaked a goal past UNH sophomore goaltender Cat Sheppard.
The one-goal deficit was a gut punch to the growing momentum of the ‘Cats. Their good play was rewarded with what many would call a fluke goal.
Instead of shaking in their boots and crumbling from frustration, UNH bounced back in short order and capitalized in the 25th minute with good ball movement in front of the goal, allowing first-year forward Whitney Wiley to chip the equalizer over the goalkeeper’s head.
Wiley’s goal opened the door for the Wildcats’ confidence to reemerge going into halftime, and that showed when senior back Meghan Rumbold took a free kick from 25 yards out and buried it in the 49th minute.
Rumbold wasn’t done wreaking havoc on the Warriors. She lofted a beautiful ball just inside the 18 to senior forward Kaylan Williams who just missed putting a header into the net, as it clanked off the crossbar.
They preserved their newly found lead and capped off their victory in the 61st minute with a game-clinching goal by senior forward Ally Reynolds. A deflected ball rolled to Reynolds’ feet and she had the presence of mind to soar it into the upper-left corner of the goal.
The Wildcats win on Saturday was driven by their dominant second half where they did not allow Merrimack to register a shot on net.
Goal-scoring momentum was primed to carry over for the ‘Cats in their Sunday championship showdown against North Dakota State University, until it wasn’t.
Defense dominated Virtue Field for the first 86 minutes of Sunday’s battle. The first scoring chance for either squad came in the 20th minute on a free kick for North Dakota State. Sheppard was able to make a spectacular break on the ball and leaped to catch the ball easily.
UNH struck back in the 29th minute with a missile from first-year forward Shayna Salis that ricocheted off of the crossbar and outside of the 18. A couple minutes later in the match, senior midfielder Liz Lane followed up her teammate with a scoring chance that came off her failed corner kick attempt. She handled her deflected ball on the left side of the 18 and sent a shot only for Bison senior goalkeeper Monica Polgar to make a spectacular diving save.
Other than these select chances, the first half was uneventful scoring wise. It was not until the second half in the 70th minute that UNH pulled serious scoring chances out of their sleeve when Rumbold sent a sizeable free kick into the 18, but multiple Wildcats were offsides. Rumbold had a shorter free kick five minutes later that struggled to curve around the wall of Bison and fell short of the goal.
It wasn’t until the 86th minute that NDSU broke the Wildcats hearts. Great vision by first-year midfielder Kate Swanis triggered her through-ball to senior forward Elyse Huber, who picked the bottom left corner of the net and stuck the ball there.
UNH used adrenaline and anger to fuel a last second push, but their shot attempts either bounced off the opposing defenders or missed the net entirely, leading to North Dakota State being crowned 2019 TD Bank Classic champions.
Rumbold, junior midfielder Sofia Borea and senior back Caitlyn Keenan all represented the All-Tournament team for the Wildcats.
UNH women’s soccer season continues tomorrow night as they host Marist College at 7 p.m. in Wildcat Stadium.
This past weekend, the University of New Hampshire Women’s Soccer team had mixed results in their return to the annual TD Bank Classic in Burlington, VT.
The ‘Cats were sitting pretty after an impressive 3-1 victory over Merrimack College on Saturday in which they displayed toughness and resilience on multiple occasions. But they couldn’t close out the weekend with a victory, as they suffered a nail-biting 1-0 defeat to North Dakota State.
The first match for the wildcats was against an inferior Merrimack team, but the ability to fight through adversity was evident enough to be excited about the result.
UNH showed promise in the opening minutes, as they put pressure on the warriors’ defense, putting a shot on goal and another just over it.
Despite the early suffocation, in the 10th minute, Merrimack midfielder Erin Tyldesley benefitted from a pinball sequence off a corner kick, and she squeaked a goal past wildcats netminder Cat Sheppard.
The one-goal deficit was a gut punch to the growing momentum of the ‘Cats. Their good play was rewarded with what many would call a “fluke goal.”
Instead of shaking in their boots and crumbling from frustration, UNH bounced back in short order and capitalized in the 25th minute with good ball movement in front of the goal, allowing freshman forward/midfielder Whitney Wiley to chip the equalizer over the goalkeeper’s head.
Wiley’s goal opened the door for the wildcats’ confidence to reemerge going into halftime, and that showed when senior back Meghan Rumbold took a free kick from 25 yards out and buried it in the 49th minute.
Rumbold wasn’t done wreaking havoc on the warriors. She lofted a beautiful ball just inside the 18 to senior forward Kaylan Williams and she just missed putting a header into the net, as it clanked off the crossbar.
They preserved their newly found lead and capped off their victory in the 61st minute with a game-clinching goal by senior forward Ally Reynolds. A deflected ball rolled to Reynolds’ feet and she had the presence of mind to soar it into the upper-left corner of the goal.
The wildcats’ win on Saturday was driven by their dominant second half where they didn’t allow Merrimack to register a shot on net.
Goal-scoring momentum was primed to carry over for the ‘Cats in their Sunday championship showdown against North Dakota State University, until it wasn’t.
Defense dominated Virtue Field for the first 86 minutes of Sunday’s battle. The first scoring chance for either squad came in the 20th minute on a free kick for North Dakota State. Goalkeeper Cat Sheppard was able to make a spectacular break on the ball and leaped to catch the ball easily.
The wildcats struck back in the 29th minute with a missile from freshman midfielder/forward Shayna Salis that ricocheted off of the crossbar and out of the 18. A couple minutes later in the match, midfielder/forward Liz Lane followed up her teammate with a scoring chance that came off her failed corner kick attempt. She handled her deflected ball on the left side of the 18 and sent a shot that Bison goalkeeper Monica Polgar made a spectacular diving save on.
Other than these select chances, the first half was uneventful scoring wise. It wasn’t until the second half in the 70th minute that UNH pulled serious scoring chances out of their sleeve when Rumbold sent a sizeable free kick into the 18, but multiple wildcats were offsides. Rumbold had a shorter free kick five minutes later that struggled to curve around the wall of Bison and fell short of the goal.
It wasn’t until the 86th minute that NDSU broke the wildcats’ hearts. Great vision by freshman midfielder Kate Swanis triggered her through-ball to senior forward Elyse Huber, who picked the bottom left corner of the net and stuck it there.
UNH used adrenaline and anger to fuel a last second push, but their shot attempts either bounced off the opposing defenders or missed the net entirely, leading to North Dakota State being crowned 2019 TD Bank Classic champions.
Megan Rumbold, Sofia Borea and Caitlyn Keenan all represented the All-Tournament team for the wildcats.
UNH Women’s Soccer season continues tomorrow night as they host Marist College at 7 p.m. in Wildcat Stadium.
