The Shepherd Rams women’s soccer team had a dominating second half comeback road victory over the Concord University Mountain Lions, Wednesday, Oct. 25, in Athens, W.Va., winning by a 4-2 score.
Coming into the game, Shepherd knew it had to win if it wanted a spot in the Mountain East Conference tournament next month.
As the game got under way, the Mountain Lions came out hot on offense, hoping to spoil Shepherd’s plans. At the 6:48 mark Concord’s Delaney Crumblish would score off a header from a corner kick, giving the Mountain Lions a 1-0 lead.
Concord kept up its intensity, as it created many offensive opportunities in the first half. As a team, Concord took 8 shots in the first half, and 14 in the game. Shepherd, on the other hand, took six shots in the first half and 12 for the game, with 10 of the shots being on goal. The Rams showed much better accuracy shooting than in their previous match against Wheeling Jesuit.
At the 24:24 mark Shepherd took its first shot, but freshman midfielder Emma Barnardoni was not able to connect on goal.
Concord would get a series of corner kicks minutes later, as Mira Konito would jump over the Rams’ defense to head the ball into the net, augmenting the Mountain Lions’ lead to 2-0.
After the goal, Shepherd kept its composure and determination. Right before the half ended, senior defender Brianna Gorman would take a corner kick and cross it to sophomore Becca Colbert, who knocked the ball in, making the score 2-1 going into the half.
Shepherd carried its momentum with them in the start of the second half, as freshman defender Katherine Eddy would dribble around a Concord defender to score, tying the game at 2-2. Shepherd showed relentless effort to keep the ball on the opposing side of the field, creating numerous opportunities. The young Ram Eddy had a great offensive performance, as she had a total of five shots on goal, giving the Concord defense a tough time the whole match.
At the 64:51 mark Eddy would force the Mountain Lions’ goalkeeper, Katie Maher, to rush out of the box, allowing her to chip the ball over the Maher’s head into the goal.
Moments later, Eddy would force a penalty kick. Senior forward Samantha Leonard would take the kick, and finesse one past the Maher, making the score 4-2 in favor of the Rams.
Shepherd would go on to shutout the Mountain Lions in the second half, as the team earned its fifth win on the season.
Shepherd travels to take on the Golden Eagles of Charleston University this Saturday at 1 p.m. The Rams need to either tie or win if they want to clinch a spot in the MEC tournament in a few weeks. Currently, the Rams are in fourth place in the MEC standings, with a slim lead over Charleston, who will be fighting for its MEC tournament life during the game.
Justin Cole is a Sports Writer for the Picket, he can be reached at: jcole07@rams.shepherd.edu