October 16, 2009

RAMS DROP ANOTHER ONE-GOAL DECISION TO TRIBE, 1-0
Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia Commonwealth University and the College of William & Mary are only about 50 miles apart from each other.

For VCU, William & Mary is by far the closest Colonial Athletic Association institution. That closeness is not only in terms of distance, it’s also in terms of the women’s soccer programs.

On a cold, rainy Friday evening, the two schools battled each other on the pitch and for the sixth straight time it was a nail biter. In the head-to-head series, the difference has been one goal or less since 2004. Unfortunately for the Rams (6-7-2, 2-4-1 CAA), the Tribe (10-5-0, 4-3-0) was the victors this time, picking up a crucial 1-0 conference victory.

“We got outfought, outworked and outhustled tonight,” Co-Head Coach Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak said. “We’ve just got to just keep working hard in practicing and trying to improve with each day.”

The Tribe would apply the pressure early and often, unleashing six shots in the first 20 minutes, forcing senior goalkeeper Kate Hudson (Clarksville, Md.) to make two diving saves.

Sophomore Azania (Taboao Da Sarra, Brazil) tried to get momentum going in the Rams direction in the 21st minute when she started a give-and-go with senior June Hartman (Virginia Beach, Va.) along the right sideline, but the Tribe back line was able to hold strong and knock away the scoring threat before a shot was fired.

A defensive turnover would prove costly for the Black & Gold as Mallory Schaffer picked up a loose ball deep in the box and fired a shot from the far right side of the box into the top left corner of the net, just out of reach of a leaping Hudson for the game’s first goal.

Physical play was a theme throughout and Azania found out the hard way in the 36th minute as she had to fight off a tough tackle from a Tribe defender to lift a pass to Hartman, who sped down the right sideline and tried to find Azania at the top of the box, but it was knocked away and the score remained 1-0 in favor of the Tribe.

“With the conditions the way they were, creating any offense was going to be tough,” Roberts Sahaydak said. “I thought Azania tried to fight through a lot of physical play, but we weren’t able to finish a lot of our opportunities tonight.”

The two teams continued to battle with the tough conditions limiting the number of scoring opportunities until late in the contest when VCU received a free kick deep in the offensive territory.

Freshman Gabby Wilson (Woodbridge, Va.) bent a pass into a scramble in front, where it bounced off Azania onto the foot of senior Jasmine Riley (Arlington, Va.), who blasted a shot from inside 10 yards, but it went wide right as the score remained 1-0.

As it has in so many of the past contests, William & Mary tightened down its back line to pick up the shutout, marking the fourth time in the past five meetings that the Tribe has held the Rams scoreless.

The Rams return to action on Sunday afternoon, hosting the Monarchs of Old Dominion University in a 1 p.m. contest.