By By Amanda Guerriero
Two minutes away from the Pride winning its first NCAA bid, the Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) Stephanie Power gave a hard cross in the box to Pernilla Jansson, who drilled it into the post. The rebound was picked up by Megan Flanigan and she sent the ball soaring over the Pride’s goalkeeper Becky Wachsberger. Fortunately for the Pride, the ball soared above the crossbar.
The Pride has never appeared in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) championship game, let alone win it. However, for the first time in the 13 years in the history of the program, the Pride defeated VCU last Sunday afternoon, 1-0, at Sports Backers Stadium.
The Blue & Gold is now in possession of an NCAA bid and has the right to compete, along with 63 other teams, in the NCAA Tournament. The Pride will play West Virginia University in the first round of the Tournament tomorrow at Penn State University (PSU). The winner will play top-seeded PSU.
VCU came into the game on Sunday with a 25-game home win streak. The Rams were also undefeated in conference play this season with a record of 9-0-2, which includes a tie with the Pride in the last game of the regular season. Despite the loss, VCU received an at-large bid in the NCAA’s and will play Clemson tomorrow night.
In its first ever appearance in the championship game, the Pride was under no expectation or pressure.
“We knew we had nothing to lose,” Amber Albrect said. “VCU has been undefeated on their home turf and we’re the winners of the conference last year, so it really took the pressure off of us and let us just do what we had to do.”
Freshman Edel Malone put up the only goal of the game in the 10th minute after she punched in a 30-yard shot off a pass from Chrissy Arnone. The Pride only out shot the Rams, 9-8, after taking the first seven shots of the game in the first half with the wind at its back. But the Rams used the wind much more to its advantage and put significant pressure on the Pride in the second half by out shooting it, 14-4.
“It was difficult to play in the wind,” Wachsberger said. “We all felt a lot of pressure in the second half because of it, but both teams have to play in it so we both had to deal with it.”
The two teams had tied in the only meeting during the regular season, which resulted in VCU winning the conference and the Pride finishing a close second.
“I think we had the heart and the desire,” head coach JoAnne Russell said. “We also had that little bit of get even, because in our minds they came up to us and beat us last time on our field. We wanted to show them we had just as much right to be in it as they did.”
Both Albrecht and Wachsberger also commented that because the Pride had heart, it had the edge over VCU.
Although the goalpost saved the Pride from another empty-handed trip home from the conference tournament, the posts haven’t always been Wahcsberger’s friend. Goal posts are both unpredictable and unreliable-they have the power to save or cost a team the game. At this time last year, the Pride played in the semi-final game against William & Mary where the goalpost deflected a Tribe goal in and also knocked Wachsberger unconscious to send the Pride home with nothing but a couple of stitches.
This season is a last for many of the Pride players. It has a seven-member senior class that is guaranteed to graduate as the class with the most wins in school history. This class has won over 50 games in its seasons with the Pride and wants to end the season with a bang.