By By Amanda Guerriero
In a must-win situation, the Pride did everything it had to do to gain a victory over Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) on Saturday afternoon.
The Pride strung series’ of up to 15 passes together at a time, always kept pressure on the ball, didn’t force passes and created great scoring opportunities. But, the one thing the Pride couldn’t seem to execute is the only thing needed to win-putting the ball in the net.
After a solid effort by the Pride for 110 minutes, it secured the second seed in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) with a scoreless tie against the Rams.
The top two teams in the CAA squared off at Hofstra Soccer Stadium to determine which team would win the top seed in the conference and gain the right to host the CAA tournament. The Pride had to win to host the tournament, while VCU couldn’t lose since it was a game ahead of the Pride in the standings.
Before the game started, Pride forward Carol Leurini sang the national anthem, causing freshman Kacey O’Driscoll to start at the forward position. From the start of the game, the Pride proved it belonged on the same field as VCU (11-3-5, 9-0-2 CAA), showing great possession and movement by all players. The Pride (12-3-3, 8-1-2) pulled the ball back in pressure situations to re-start attacks as opposed to previous games when it would have just turned the ball over. By the Pride regulating the flow of the game, it showed good patience and control.
“We have been getting the chances, but haven’t been capitalizing on them,” Pride senior Amber Albrecht said.
The Pride out shot the Rams, 16-10, and most of the shots were set-up and executed extremely well but were unable to find the back of the net. Defender Jessica Crankshaw found a crack in the Rams defense with a little over 20 minutes to play in the first half. Crankshaw took off down the sideline where a through ball was played to her feet once again the Pride could not find the net.
With 18 minutes left to play in the first half, Pride senior defender and captain Laura DelBiondo went down with an injury, which allowed freshman Kariena Richards to come into the game. Richards filled the big shoes of DelBiondo quite well in thwarting a few potential goals.
The Pride had a series of great shot attempts and opportunities late in the second half, but could not seal the win and thus, ventured into overtime for a third consecutive game. VCU was in defensive mode for the two overtime periods, holding onto the tie through the 20 minutes and picking up the conference’s coveted top seed.
Over the past four games, the Pride has had some problems in the scoring department, which it will have to fix before going to Virginia tomorrow to play in the semifinals against Delaware.
“The beginning of the season we were scoring goals right and left, so hopefully these past weekends we were just in a slump and will be out of it by this weekend,” Albrecht said.
Although the Pride won’t be hosting, it did secure a bye, which is important in its preparation for the tournament.
“We just have to keep the intensity up that we have been playing with,” Albrecht said. “Playing away is tough, but if we keep our composure and play with desire, we will do just fine.”
The Pride will now battle the Blue Hens, a team that it defeated 2-0 in the teams’ only meeting on Oct. 2.
