Dukes fall in 2OT heartbreaker

On a cold, gloomy Sunday afternoon, a Philadelphia team faced off against a Pittsburgh team at 1 p.m. Not Steelers football, but real football, as the Duquesne women’s soccer team suffered a 1-0 double overtime defeat at the hands of Temple University on Arthur J. Rooney Field.

In the sixth minute of the second overtime Temple freshman midfielder Paige Rachel received a pass on a free kick from teammate senior midfielder Jourdan Brill, which she was able to head over sophomore goalie Devon Tabata and into the net for the game-winner. The Owls, 4-8-2 (1-2 Atlantic-10), stormed the field and celebrated the conference victory over the Dukes, 4-8-2 (0-3-1 A-10).

Head Coach Al Alvine was disappointed with the easy goal.

“Their kid got up and won the ball,” Alvine said. “She wanted to be first to it, she got to it first and she scored it. That is what we needed and that is what we did not get.”
Tabata lamented after the game about the only goal scored on her.

“I was debating if I should go or stay and it just snuck in behind me. It was a disappointing end to a hard game,” Tabata said.

Senior forward Paige Maroney said the goal was scored on the entire team, not just Tabata.

“We really need to buckle down and start defending free kicks better, that is often how we get scored on, and we need to work on that in practice this week,” Maroney said.

Tabata had a good performance on the whole, making eight saves.

“Because of how hard [my teammates] work I want to express that same effort and bring that to the table, just like they bring it,” Tabata said.

The Dukes lack of scoring was not from a small amount of chances. They took seven corner kicks and had a total of 25 shots, nine of which were on goal.

Alvine was upset by the situation the team faced.

“We want to get more shots, but it is important that these shots are not just shots, but that they are scoring opportunities. We took too many bad shots and just rushed too many shots … the problem is we just don’t have goal scorers on this team,” Alvine said. “We had a one-on-one with the goalkeeper in the first couple minutes of overtime and we didn’t put it away that is just typical. We don’t have any players that are predatory in front of the goal that pounce on those types of opportunities and make other teams pay. We were just too negligent with our finishing, too casual … Seven corner kicks and never looked dangerous on any of them.”

Maroney was a source of offensive chances Sunday. She managed to get nine shots, three of which forced the Owls’ goalie, Shauni Kerkhoff, to make a save.

“My teammates were finding me in behind. I thought that we did a good job of spreading the field out and getting those through balls, but I just need to finish them next game,” Maroney said.

A scary scene unfolded in the 34th minute when freshman midfielder Caroline Lacy received a cleat to the face. She stayed down for a moment and when play was halted she had blood trickling from a nasty gash over her left eye.

“[Lacy] is a warrior. She would have come back sooner if she would have been allowed to but she is a battler, she is a fighter. She will get it done no matter what,” Alvine said.

Tabata said the injury motivated the Red and Blue.

“Caroline is one of our biggest assets, one of our hardest-working players. When we saw that happen it really just sparked that inside of us to get us going,” Tabata said. “It was a bad call. It should have been a high kick, [but] it was a kick straight to the face.”

Alvine did his best to fire up his players every time there was a break in the action, Maroney said.

“[Alvine] was just telling us that we are not here to tie, we are not here for a loss, this is our home field and we need a win,” Maroney said. “We need these points after Friday night’s tie. We needed a win today.”

The Dukes look ahead to their 7 p.m. matchup this Friday with St. Bonaventure at Rooney Field.