Women’s soccer clinches share of UAA title in weekend matches

| Editor-in-Chief

Another weekend resulted in another pair of wins for the top-ranked Washington University women’s soccer team.

Wash. U. clinched at least a share of the University Athletic Association title and extended its winning streak to 10 games by defeating Brandeis University 3-0 Friday and New York University 4-0 Sunday. The Red and Green have now shutout their opponent in 14 of 17 matches this season.

The wins pushed the Bears’ record to 16-1 on the season and 6-0 in UAA play. Because Wash. U. defeated Emory University 1-0 on Oct. 6, the Bears hold the tiebreaker for the UAA’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. As long as Wash. U. at least ties with the University of Chicago in the regular season finale on Saturday, the Red and Green will win the UAA title outright.

“It was a big weekend for us…I’m obviously really excited,” senior forward Jessica Johnson said. “We’re still going to go hard and play hard against Chicago because we really want to win outright and don’t want to share the title, but this was still an exciting weekend.”

The Bears dominated the match against NYU on Sunday afternoon from the beginning but didn’t find the goal until the 42nd minute. With 3:31 remaining before halftime, Johnson received a pass in open space from senior forward Lauren Steimle on the right side of the field before chipping the ball over the NYU goalkeeper into the netting at the far post for her eighth goal of the season.

“[Freshman forward Katie Chandler] and I were both going for the same ball, and I was screaming at her to leave it. It was a great ball [from Steimle]. I don’t remember if it hit the ground first or if I volleyed it, but I was thinking, ‘I need to score.’ It just turned into a nice goal,” Johnson said.

The goal by Johnson was Wash. U.’s 10th shot of the first half and sixth shot on goal. The Bears had advantages of 10-2 and 6-1, respectively, at the half.

The Red and Green struck quickly out of the break as sophomore forward Olivia Lillegraven made it 2-0 only 2:12 into the second half. Lillegraven got on the end of a corner kick from senior midfielder Kate Doyle and scored her team-leading 11th goal of the season.

Junior midfielder Kaylin Balley scored in the 69th minute by shooting across the goal to the far post. Junior midfielder Anna Zambricki fed Balley into open space on the right side of the 18-yard box, and Balley beat the keeper for her third goal of the season.

Chandler wrapped up the scoring when she made it 4-0 in the 80th minute. Wash. U. outshot the Violets 18-5 in the match, putting 12 shots on goal.

The Bears got off to a quick start on Friday evening against Brandeis University, taking the game’s first three shots, including two on goal. At the end of the first half, Wash. U. had an 8-6 advantage in shots.

The Red and Green finally found the back of the net in the 42nd minute, when junior forward Lillie Toaspern shot from the right side to the far post off a throw-in from junior midfielder Tessa Klumpp. It was Toaspern’s eighth goal of the season.

Wash. U. scored twice in just more than one minute in the second half, beginning when senior forward Becky Berels jumped on a loose ball following a corner kick and buried a shot inside the far post from about 20 yards out. One minute and eight seconds later, Doyle sailed a free kick over the keeper’s head from about 30 yards out to make it 3-0 Bears.

“The team has just been playing very well and working well together lately, and it’s worked out that a lot of different people have been scoring,” Lillegraven said.

Seven different players scored the Bears’ seven goals over the two games, and three other players also assisted on those goals.

“It really speaks to our team philosophy that seven different people scored. One person doesn’t make our team; everyone is coming together and working hard for each other,” Johnson said. “That makes us so good.”

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