Women’s soccer suffers first loss

On Saturday evening, No. 4 Wheaton College defeated the No. 12 Washington University women’s soccer team, 2-0, off of two second-half penalty kicks.

“It was a great game,” head coach Jim Conlon said. “Wheaton is a talented team and they really made us play to our assets.”

In the first half, the two unbeaten teams were evenly matched. The Bears controlled possession and went into halftime with three more shots than Wheaton. One of Wash. U.’s best chances in the game came early, when freshman Lillie Toaspern had a left-footed shot from close in get kicked out by a Wheaton defender on the goal line.

“I think we let a couple balls get away from us a little bit, and their pressure was able to jump on that,” Conlon said.

In the second half, Wheaton controlled possession. The Thunder finished with a 9-3 advantage in corner kicks and had three more shots than the Bears in the second half. In the 65th minute, Wheaton’s Jaime Orewiler dribbled into the box from the left side and was fouled, giving Thunder its first penalty kick opportunity. Keri Shannon took the kick and drilled it into the right corner for the first goal of the game.

“Jamie Orewiler did a nice job dribbling through a couple times,” Conlon said. “We played well, we just need to find the back of the net.”

Toaspern had another good shot on goal, but the Wheaton goalkeeper made a diving stop to keep the Bears scoreless for the game.

In the 87th minute, Orewiler dribbled into the box and drew another penalty. She took the penalty herself, and though junior goalkeeper Clara Jaques guessed correctly, Orewiler sent the ball into the left corner.

“I hoped to guess the right way but they had two shots into the corners; they finished well.” Jaques said.

The Red and Green were unable to find a sustained attack for the second half to put enough pressure on the goal.

“We’re just going to come back even harder. You can’t let something keep you down,” senior Alyssa Marulli said.

Wash. U. will hope to avenge this loss in their next game this Thursday, Sept. 22, against Millikin University in Decatur, Ill.

“We’ll refocus, take a look at what we did well in this game, what we can slightly improve on and get ready.” Conlon said.