Women’s soccer tops Chicago, earns second place in UAA

The Washington University women’s soccer team, ranked fourteenth, defeated No. 25 University of Chicago for the first time since 2006 to clinch second place in the University Athletic Association standings.

Wash. U. won 1-0 behind sophomore Jen Reed’s third goal of the season. She scored unassisted from 35 yards out, blasting the ball into the top corner of the net. This 76th-minute goal was the only score of the game.

“It felt fantastic [to get the win]. It was a goal of ours to beat Chicago. Jen Reed’s shot was amazing, absolutely amazing,” senior co-captain Emma Brown said. “We haven’t beaten them the last few years, and it felt really good; it was a great way to end off regular season play.”

Each team had a number of chances. Both ended with 12 shots, although the Bears had seven shots on goal, one more than Chicago. The first half was controlled by the Maroons, seeing them get 10 shots in the first 45 minutes. Junior goalkeeper Clara Jaques finished with six saves to record her fifth shutout of the year.

“Especially in the first half we had some scary defensive moments, and our amazing goalie stopped all of them, and also we had everyone on the bench,” senior co-captain Lee Ann Felder said. “In the first half, our back-up goalie [junior] Caitlin Heim wasn’t playing in goal, and she went in on the field because we needed someone to play forward, and she was ready and went in and did great, which was awesome because she had never played on the field in a game before.”

In the second half, the Bears took over, limiting Chicago to two shots while taking eight of their own, culminating in Reed’s goal. The Red and Green also had four corner kicks in the second half, to finish with six for the game.

“[Head coach Jim Conlon] said that we really need to come out and seize the game like we do in the second half because again we start slow and then play better in the second half. That’s been our theme in the season—so positive—but we need to figure out how to come out strong in the first half, too,” Felder said.

Wash. U. picked up a team yellow card late in the second half. For the game, Chicago had nine fouls to only five for the Bears, and each team was called offsides twice.

With a positive end to the regular season, the team looks forward to Monday’s selection show for the Division III postseason, which will air at 12:30 p.m.

“We’re just looking forward to the next game, waiting to see if we make the tournament [and] who we’re playing,” Brown said. “[We’ll] try to carry the grit that it took to win the game against Chicago into tournament play.”