TicketsSept. 3, 2006
CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Cincinnati women's soccer team suffered its first defeat of the season on Sunday, falling to Xavier, 1-0, on a penalty kick in overtime.
The Bearcats fell to 2-1-1 on the season and XU, playing its first home match of the season, improved to 1-3-0.
After Cincinnati carried the play for much of the second half, the Musketeers were the aggressors in overtime. They took the only three shots of the extra period.
As a pass was slid into the box just two minutes in, XU's Angie Scarlato raced UC keeper Andrea Kaminski to the ball. They reached it simultaneously, but Kaminski could not control it and was called for tripping Scarlato. She then beat Kaminski, putting the penalty shot into the bottom right corner at 92:50 for the win.
Xavier owned a 22-20 edge in shots, but the Bearcats had the better scoring chances all game. Kaminski made 13 saves for UC and Kelly Farrell had 11 for XU. The crosstown rivals also combined for 34 fouls.
"It was really a challenge to play at Xavier in its home opener," said Bearcats head coach Meridy Glenn. "Our kids played awesome against a difficult style. We had our chances. It is unfortunate we didn't get the finishes we were looking for and it came down to overtime."
The first half was evenly played, with Cincinnati owning a 9-8 advantage in shots. Xavier managed to get six shots on net, with several coming in the final 10 minutes.
Kaminski's most challenging save came just three minutes in when she made a diving stop on an Allison Osborne header. In the 36th minute XU had another great opportunity as an Amber Silvis corner crossed the mouth of the goal, but the Musketeer try went high.
Freshman Melissa Bigg drove the UC offense in the opening 45 minutes, taking five of the Bearcats' nine shots. In the 26th minute she hit the post on a volley and then had Farrell make a one-handed save off her try with six minutes left. Her final chance came with less than 30 seconds left in the half as Amy May slid a pass across to an open Bigg whose shot went high.
In the second half, the Bearcats put three shots on goal in the first four minutes, two coming from Kristin May.
XU had its best chance of the half in the 74th minute as Kaminski made a diving stop off a Silvis shot.
Ana Farmer had a pair of chances in the final minutes for the Bearcats, putting a free kick high with under eight minutes to go and then mis-hitting a shot on a breakaway with 5:25 left when she appeared to be taken down from behind.
The Bearcats are next in action on Thursday, Sept. 7 when play at Michigan State at 4 p.m. ET. They next play at home on Sunday, Sept. 10 against Oakland at 1 pm.