Sports, Women's Soccer

Women’s Soccer Ties Against Siena

After a tough overtime loss to the Monmouth Hawks on Oct. 8, the Manhattan women’s soccer team (1-2-2 MAAC, 6-5-2) was able to fight back and earn a tie against Siena (2-1-3 MAAC, 5-5-5) on Saturday afternoon.

The Jaspers have now played its second straight overtime game and fourth in the last six games.

Sam Washuk is second on the team in goals scored with three. Photo by James O'Connor
Sam Washuk is second on the team in goals scored with three. Photo by James O’Connor

Manhattan’s game against the Hawks ended in heartbreak as Monmouth’s Erica Murphy scored the game-winner with 24 seconds left in the first overtime period. The defending MAAC champions had their third-straight victory with a 2-1 win over Manhattan. Senior Aislinn McIlvenny assisted on Manhattan’s goal as she gave the ball to junior Sam Washuk, who was wide open and placed it into the back of the net. Manhattan went into halftime with the 1-0 lead, even though they were outshot 18-3. The Hawks got its goal about 15 minutes into the second half.

Junior Kristen Skonieczny finished the game with an outstanding performance. The goalkeeper had a season-high 12 saves in the game. McIlvenny had her second assist on the season and has been involved in 10 of the team’s 13 goals this season. Washuk scored her third goal of the season.

The Jaspers’ game against Siena had a different storyline. About two minutes into the game, the Saints found the net and took a 1-0 lead. Siena continued strong offensively with 10 shots in the first half, compared to Manhattan’s three.

Manhattan took over in the second half with nine shots and a goal to tie the game by junior Emily Ude with about nine minutes left in regulation. Ude earned her first goal of the season. McIlvenny assisted and tallied her third of the season, a team high.

Manhattan had two major chances to take the lead by freshman Emily Center and sophomore Lauren Barton. However, both were stopped by Siena goaltender Taylor Booth, who finished the game with six saves. Skonieczny had three saves before getting injured in the second half. Freshman Becca Vitale came in relief of Skonieczny and had two saves.

Siena led the overtime periods with six shots over Manhattan’s two, despite both teams having good chances to score. They also finished with a 20-15 advantage in shots over the Jaspers. In the end, neither team found the net again and it finished in a 1-1 draw.