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CINCINNATI - After falling behind for the first time this season, the University of Cincinnati women's soccer team found a away to get back on top of things and hold on for a 3-2 victory on the road at Evansville Friday night at Arad McCuthan Stadium. The win pushed the Bearcats a perfect 3-0-0 mark on the season while the Purple Aces slipped to 1-2-0.
The victory, the third one-goal win of the year, gives the Bearcats their second-best winning streak to open a season, tying the 1999 and 2002 sides that also opened 3-0-0. The record for the program came in its inaugural season of 1980 when the Bearcats opened with a 5-0-0 record. Overall, the win gives UC its first road win of the season and the 150th in program history.
"We are getting better with every match," Head Coach Neil Stafford said. "The players are getting better, but I don't think our intelligence it growing as fast. What I mean by that is we need to learn how to better put matches away and we aren't doing that yet. It is frustrating not putting away teams earlier, but that is something we are going to work on. We had great emotion tonight and that is tough to do on the road, especially after the emotional match we had Monday night with Northern Kentucky. Now, we need to work on seeing matches out. It's great to be 3-0 and we want to keep it going Sunday at Purdue."
// 23' - PURPLE ACES TAKE THE LEAD
For the first time in 2016, the Bearcats saw themselves on the short end of a scoreline as the Purple Aces took a 1-0 lead in the 23' with Montana Portenier tallying for the hosts. Following a UC corner kick, UE jumped at the chance to breakaway with Portenier flying down the right side of the pitch. She eventually broke into the box and ripped a shot that Claudia Eustaquio got her finger tips on, but it was not enough to keep the offering out of the goal, putting the hosts on top early.
// 26' - COUPERUS LEVELS
Trailing for the first time this season didn't sit well with the Bearcats and they set out to change that, needing just three minutes to level as Couperus blasted a shot from distance to tie the match. The ball kicked around a few times before Kayla Utley settled the ball, turned a played a pass back to Couperus who had a shot that took off directly into the right side of the goal for her first of the season.
// 46' - QUICK STRIKE LEAD
For the second time this season, the Bearcats earned a penalty kick and, for the second time, a true freshman calmly stepped up and buried a shot from the spot to give UC its first lead of the match. The Bearcats took the ball away off the opening kick of the half and saw Dee Picou drive down the left side of center before ripping a shot that hit off an Evansville defenders' arm to earn a PK for the guests. From there, rookie Kyleigh Dominguez came to the spot and hit the ball home to open her account with the Bearcats and join classmate Gabrielle LoPresti, who scored on a PK in the opener with Dayton.
// 51' - HEADING IT HOME
With a relentless pressure applied, the Bearcats kept their foot on the gas and continued to drive toward the offensive third, eventually drawing a corner kick. On the ensuing play, Taylor Pavlika sent a beautiful ball into the box where Bailey Wilson climbed above the defense and headed home the ball for her first of the year and the team's second in the opening 10 minutes of play of the second half.
// 60' - UE PULLS ONE BACK
Evansville looked to push the pace back and found an opening in the 60' as the Purple Aces drew a penalty with Bri Costigan being called for a foul in the box. Bronwyn Boswell, who scored on a PK last weekend en route to earning MVC Offensive Player of the Week honors, stepped to the spot and put a shot past Eustaquio to bring the hosts back to with in one goal, 3-2.
// OTHER CHANCES
Both teams had several chances to score in the remaining 30 minutes of play, including Dominguez, who nearly had her second of the contest as she broke away from the defense and took the keeper head on, only to have her shot turned away to keep the scoreline at 3-2 in favor of the Bearcats. Eustaquio also did her part to keep the hosts out of the netting to pick-up her first victory as a member of the program as she collected a trio of saves in her first 90 minutes of play for UC.
// NOTES
• Three freshmen earned the first starts of their collegiate careers with Julia Abbott, Kyleigh Dominguez and Alex Stubblebine each garnering spots in the Starting XI.
• Claudia Eustaquio, who transferred in from Detroit in the off-season, saw her first action as a Bearcat as she was a member of the Starting XI as the goalkeeper.
• The Bearcats' victory pushed their all-time road record to 150-151-21
• UC is now 3-0-0 on the year, tying with the 1999 and 2002 teams for the second-best winning streak to open a season (the 1980 team opened 5-0-0)
// UPCOMING
The second of four-consecutive road matches awaits UC Sunday afternoon as the Bearcats will travel to Purdue for a 1 p.m. contest in West Lafayette, Ind. At the time of posting, PU trailed, 3-1, at halftime in a road match at Baylor. The Boilermakers headed into the match with a 1-1-0 record.