Freshman Gaelen Clayton fights for control of the ball against a University of Chicago opponent Saturday. (Photo by Jamie Nicholson / Student Life)

In a physical and hard-fought contest, the No. 6 Washington University women’s soccer team finished in a 1-1 draw against No. 16 University of Chicago after two overtimes in the team’s regular season finale Saturday. 

With the draw the Bears, who clinched their sixth straight University Athletic Association championship last weekend, finished the season 13-1-2. They will face Beloit College (9-4-5) at home next Saturday in the first round of the NCAA playoffs.

Chicago opened the scoring in the 38th minute with a goal from Maggie Jameson. Senior Ariana Miles netted the equalizer for WashU in the 58th minute with an assist from Jess Shaprio. It was Miles’ fourth goal of the season.

Despite there being no more goals in the double-overtime affair, WashU had plenty of chances. The best was a penalty kick in the 14th minute, as senior Emily Kaufman’s shot was saved by Chicago goalkeeper Miranda Malone. The penalty miss was the first of the season for WashU, as they converted their previous three attempts.

Head coach Stephanie Gabbert was impressed by the Chicago keeper. “[Chicago’s] keeper today was very good,” Gabbert said. “She made a lot of great saves, so I was happy with us testing her.”

WashU had other chances in the first half, as Malone made an amazing save in the 25th minute on a shot from Shapiro in the top-right corner. WashU also had four corner kicks. Gabbert said the team must improve on those set pieces.

Senior Jess Shapiro lines up a shot Saturday. Shapiro had the assist on the Bears’ single goal. (Photo by Emmett Campbell / Student Life)

“People have to be in better positions and really go at the ball,” she said. “Right now, we’re not hungry enough to put those away.”

With WashU scoring one goal or fewer in their previous four games, Gabbert said the team needs to start converting their chances. “We have got to work on finishing,” Gabbert said. “We get a lot of shots, we get a lot of quality looks and we haven’t been putting those away.”

Gabbert once again stressed the importance of finishing heading into the tournament. 

“The thing that’ll knock us out of the tournament is us not finishing those chances because as we progress in the tournament we’ll have less and less of those opportunities,” Gabbert said.

However, she was happy to end the season with an intense rivalry game to help mentally prepare the team for the tournament.

“This is a great game to end on before we hit the tournament because it’s a good team and they play with a lot of energy,” Gabbert said. “They can punish you if you make mistakes, and that’s what we need to learn from, but even if we do those things well, if we don’t put our opportunities away we’re not going to advance.”

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