WASHINGTON, D.C. — Carlini Field will host postseason women's soccer for the first time in the venue's history on Thursday night as the Catholic University women's soccer team welcomes Drew for the Landmark Conference Semifinal. The Cardinals will host a match in the conference tournament for the first time since 2015, which is the last time the women's soccer program won a conference championship.
Catholic earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament after hopping Drew on the final day of the regular season. Casey Sommers' side downed Juniata while the Rangers fell to Susquehanna on Saturday.
Drew took advantage of an immediate opportunity for redemption in the quarterfinal, paying back Susquehanna by downing the River Hawks 1-0. An early goal from Meghan Sharkey courtesy of a Rebecca Racine assist direct from a free kick.
Christa Racine's side will be looking to exact more revenge on Thursday. When the two teams met in the regular season, Catholic handed Drew its first conference loss of the season in convincing fashion, downing the Rangers 4-1. Despite the scoreline being one-sided, the match was relatively even as both teams put seven shots on target, had a near-even amount of corner kicks and were whistled for the same number of fouls.
Two-time All-Landmark Conference forward Jordan Siok scored a first-half brace in the last meeting between the two sides. The match in early October marked the beginning of a run for Siok that has seen her score 11 goals in seven matches. The shifty forward has scored 15 times this season, the joint-most in the conference with Scranton's Niamh Healy. As a team, Catholic has more than doubled its goal output from last season while more than tripling its win total. In addition to Siok, Peyton Coron has netted seven goals while Ava Gregorio has found the back of the net four times. Six players have provided multiple assists with Siok, Coron and Gregorio joined on that list by Isabel Doherty, Lauren Cerda and Katarina Bauer.
Drew's offense will be led by junior Alexa Krause. The midfielder leads the Rangers with 11 goals, third most in the conference, and has added four assists. Racine has also registered six assists, one of which came during the regular season match-up on Carlini Field.
Catholic's strong defense is led by the center back pairing of Sam Cesario and Teighan Boyle.
Cesario is one of three players to start every match this year for coach Sommers and has played the most minutes of any Cardinal. The sophomore registered an assist on Siok's first goal of the contest against Drew and was named Landmark Conference Defensive Player of the week just two days later. Boyle and Cerda are also mainstays in the backline that has kept a staggering 11 clean sheets in 18 total matches. Cerda is a danger going forward on the left flank and provides great ability to whip in a dangerous service on dead balls as well. The right back position has seen a bit more rotation, but Emily Harkins has established herself as the first choice in that regard as the season has progressed.
Ava Rieger has recovered from an early-season injury to start the last 13 matches. She leads the conference in multiple major categories including goals against average (.615), save percentage (.818) and shutout (8). Reiger made six saves in the regular season match against Drew and holds the record for most saves in a Landmark Conference Tournament game after making 15 stops in the semifinal loss to Scranton last season.
Sarah Crowley has started every match in goal for the Rangers. The freshman has made a conference-most 73 saves, including five key saves in the narrow quarterfinal victory over Susquehanna on Tuesday.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. with a berth to the Landmark Conference Final on the line.
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