Women’s soccer loses second straight overtime thriller

| Sports Reporter
Senior captain Julie Tembunkiart takes a corner kickMatt Lee

Senior captain Julie Tembunkiart takes a corner kick early in the first half. It connected with Freshman Kate Doyle, but the shot was saved by Loras defender, Kinsey Campbell.

The Washington University women’s soccer team experienced another disappointing overtime loss against Loras College on Sunday, Sept. 19.

“It’s really frustrating because we outplayed the other team, and they know that but the scoreboard didn’t,” senior captain Julie Tembunkiart said.

After 105 minutes of scoreless play, the game went into a second overtime period. With 4:24 left on the clock, the Duhawks broke through the Bears defense and put a shot past sophomore goalie Clara Jaques.

Junior Kate Young, of the Duhawks, dribbled the ball past the Bears defense and had a one-on-one with Jaques. Jaques came out of the goal and went for the ball, but Young got a touch on the ball and it went through the hands of Jaques and into the net.

The game-winning goal was highly disputed. The team agreed that it was unclear whether or not Jaques had possession of the ball. “There was a lot of confusion about goal,” Tembunkiart said. “Even the ref realized he may have potentially made the wrong call because Clara clearly had her hands on the ball.”

Other members of the team were also uncertain about the goal. “I don’t know; honestly, I don’t know until I look at the tape,” head coach Jim Conlon said. “But I do trust Clara.”

The Bears came out ready to play in the beginning. “We came out really strong in the first half,” junior Lee Ann Felder said. “We were playing around them.”

The Bears posted nine shots, six on goal and eight fouls, while the Duhawks had eight shots, one on goal and seven fouls.

Both teams had their opportunities to score in the first period. At 15:29, freshman Kate Doyle headed the ball into the corner of the goal after a corner kick, but Loras’ goalie Kinsey Campbell saved the shot. The Duhawks rallied back and nearly scored at 17:29 when Jaclyn Tumberger ripped the ball into the crossbar.

However, the team agreed that the second half was not as strong as the first. “We were more frantic but had a good effort,” Felder said.

Neither team was able to find the back of the net despite 11 more shots in the second half from the Bears, while the Duhawks had four.

The Red and Green looked to its bench to break the tie, especially in the second half when Conlon pulled six starters. “We have a great team top to bottom,” Conlon said. “We are trying to get everyone a chance to change the scoreboard.”

In the first overtime, the Bears had two corner kicks opportunities taken by Brown and Felder but both were headed out by Duhawk defensive players. Young also had a chance for Loras, but her shot went far right.

“We lost in overtime; it’s not good enough,” Conlon said.

The Bears travel to Bloomington, Il., to face No. 6 Illinois Wesleyan on Tuesday Sept. 21. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

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