Box Score WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Franciscan women's soccer team rallied from a two-goal deficit but couldn't overtake Washington & Jefferson as the Presidents held on for a 3-2 win, Wednesday night.
Down 3-0 with less than 18 minutes to play, the Lady Barons proved their resolve and mounted a comeback against the Presidents.
Kristie Kelly subbed in at 70:47 and immediately made her impact known for FUS. Just two minutes after coming in, Kelly took a hard shot at the W&J goalie who deflected back into the field of play. Corinne Jensen corralled the rebound and first it past the keeper just inside the box. The Lady Barons trailed 3-1 in the 73rd minute.
Washington & Jefferson sent a slew of shots towards the Lady Baron net but the defense held tight and would not let another shot through, including an impressive save by Jasmine Florentino.
In the 86th minute, Jensen stole the ball from a defender just inside 18 yards and sent it to Savannah Luebking. The junior lofted it over the W&J keeper to cut the lead down to 3-2 with just under four to play.
"It was really exciting to see the girls score in game play and not just in set pieces," commented head coach Clare McBane. "We are growing each game, and we want to win every game, but we also want to peak at the right time."
W&J attempted three more shots but could not increase the lead and the game ended 3-2 in favor of the Presidents despite a strong comeback from the Lady Barons.
The Presidents jumped out to their early lead with a pair of goals in the first 15 minutes of action in the first half.
"Down 2-0 we put in some subs and that light a fire under the girls," remarked coach McBane. "We forced the girls to play their game, and once that happened, we started to play phenomenally."
Sophomore Sarah Luebking started the game in net for the Lady Barons and made four saves in the first 45 while Florentino came out in the second half and stopped five shots.
"Tonight's game gave me another opportunity to get a lot of girls some real playing time. Jasmine got good time in net and made some real saves for us. It was good game for us heading into conference action."
"The team did all of this without the best player on the field due to injury. To play this well and come back from such a deficit speaks volumes of this team's character, heart and tone of the season.
Franciscan opens Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference play on Saturday at Hilbert. The match starts at 1pm.
