College of Charleston
Drexel
Women?s Soccer Rallies In Second Half To Sweep Weekend
9/27/2015 9:01:00 PM | Women's Soccer
MT.PLEASANT, S.C. – Behind freshman forward Jessica Schifer's fifth game-winning goal of the season and second of the weekend, the College of Charleston women's soccer team defeated Drexel 2-1 Sunday afternoon at Patriots Point.
“I was really happy with our performance this weekend,” said head coach Christian Michner. “To come back from a goal down and fight back to win is tremendous. We showed a lot of character for a young team and that tells me our leadership has been phenomenal. Our senior class has done a great job all year of really leading by example and we have a really talented group of kids so anything is possible.”
The Cougars (8-3, 2-0 CAA) picked up back-to-back conference victories for the first time since joining the Colonial Athletic Association in 2013. CofC is also off to its best 11 game start since they began the 2008 season 8-2-1. The College has won five straight games and is one of only two CAA schools to start conference play 2-0, with the other being Hofstra.
Drexel held possession most of the first half despite both teams only putting up four shots. The Dragons ended Lauren Killian's shutout streak at 369 minutes when Vanessa Kara chipped the ball just over Killian off the left post and into the back of the net in the 14th minute.
Trailing 1-0 at halftime, the Cougars opened the second half on the attack. Freshmen forward Raymara Barreto began the comeback when freshmen forward Laura Ortega set her up from the left side of the box for her team-leading fourth assist. Barreto received the ball screaming down the middle of the box and buried her fifth goal of the season to tie the match at 1-1 in the 53rd minute.
“Both Raymara and Jess have been unbelievable this season. They have come through with timely goals all season and could potentially be battling each other for CAA Rookie of the Year. They both are fantastic players for us who score timely goals and to know we will have them in our arsenal for the next couple years is scary for other teams. They are a lot of fun to coach and certainly they have tremendous ability.”
Just seven minutes later, freshmen midfielder Sara Deutsch stole possession at midfield and played a beautiful ball to lead Schifer on a breakaway. Outrunning one defender and dodging the goalie, Schifer gave the Cougars a 2-1 lead on her CAA leading fifth game-winning goal of the season.
The Cougar backline of senior's Claire Newman and Allison Sender along with sophomore's Maddy Brill-Edwards and Rio Speller-Drews held off the Dragons pressure the rest of the second half. The defenders combined with junior goalkeeper Lauren Killian have allowed only two goals during the five-game win streak, which includes a 369-minute scoreless streak.
“All of our attention now shifts to getting great results at Northeastern and Hofstra who have arguably been the two best teams in the league the last couple years. We know we will be in for a battle, it's not easy playing against any team in the CAA and playing on the road doesn't make things any easier. We will come up with ways to attack each team and the game plan is to come back next weekend with two more wins.”
The Cougars will ship up to Boston for a match against Northeastern on Friday, Oct. 2 to begin a stretch of four straight road games. CofC will return to Patriots Point on Oct. 16 when they host Towson.
