Box Score WASHNIGTON - For the first time in six consecutive seasons The Catholic University of America women's soccer team came out on top of Stevenson University with a 3-2 victory on Wednesday afternoon. The last Cardinal victory over the Mustangs came in a similar 3-2 finish in 2009.
"We wanted to focus on playing the style of soccer that we know how to play," said CUA head coach J.P. Sousa. "We knew that they would come out hard and play direct to their forwards, so we prepared ourselves for that."
The Mustangs came out to the CUA Soccer Field strong, scoring two goals in the first seven minutes of the game. With a quick 2-0 deficit, the Cardinals fought to stay alive, taking eight shots in the first half.
"I think the first seven minutes of the game was an indication of what Stevenson can do, unfortunately we came out flat, they got two quick ones on us," said Sousa. "Clearly that's not the way we wanted to start the game but we felt it was important to stay true to our game plan."
The Cards battled back answering the Mustangs' two goals with two of their own before the 20 minute mark. During the 14th minutes junior Kirsten Wosleger set up sophomore Andrea Jablonskyj for an open shot and CUA's first goal of the game. Just six minutes later Wosleger fired the ball into the back of the net to tie the game at two, off of a pass from sophomore Kiera Lyons.
CUA had regained control of the game, but with a tie score at the halftime intermission, it was still anyone's to win.
"Going into the second half we needed to be better defensively," said Sousa. "Additionally, we were confident that if we scored the next goal we would go on to win."
Catholic did just that in the 63rd minutes. Freshman Jillian Sudo ripped a shot at the Stevenson keeper who was unable to control the save. Sudo found the rebound and sent the ball inside the right post for her first career goal and the game winning shot.
Senior Lexi Halperin earned her fifth win of the season, making seven saves in goal for Catholic.
The Cardinals now sit at 5-1 for the year and will head to Salisbury University to take on the Seagulls on Saturday, Sept. 19, at 2 p.m.
Note: In the NSCAA Mid-Atlantic weekly poll release on Tuesday, September 15, CUA earned the 8th place ranking.
