Spring Break
Women's soccer finishes strong
Matt Swiss
Issue date: 11/7/08 Section: Sports
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The Rams welcomed No. 25 Charlotte to Kingston on Friday and after a slow start to the game, Rhody struck first with 32 minutes remaining in the first half. Sophomore midfielder Kaylen Shimoda blasted a corner kick into the box, and senior defender Sarah Helldoerfer finished off the play, as she headed the ball into the back of the net for her third goal of the season.
Rhode Island had three goal-scoring opportunities that could have helped put Charlotte away. In the 34th minute, junior forward Kassandra Spitler nailed one off the crossbar and three minutes later, sophomore forward Adrienne Ruhe Lischke suffered the same fate as she nailed one off the crossbar as well.
With 20 seconds remaining in the half, Rhody had another chance to score when freshman forward Alexis Veith crossed one a few feet from the goal. The pass sailed just above the leg of Lischke and Rhody had to settle for a 1-0 halftime lead.
Charlotte gave the Rhody faithful a scare just more than three minutes into the second half when it blasted one into the back of the net, past a diving Agnes Arnadottir. The goal was denied after the Charlotte forward was whistled for going offsides. The Rams kept its 1-0 lead into the 79th minute.
Charlotte's sophomore midfielder Sam Huecker nailed one through the back of the net with 10:26 remaining with her team's sixth shot on goal. Less than three minutes later, junior midfielder Hailey Beam was tripped by Arnadottir, leading to a penalty kick.
Beam's kick was blocked, but Charlotte freshman midfielder and forward Heather Carter took full advantage of it. Carter blasted the rebound through the back of the net, giving Charlotte a lead it would not relinquish.
Charlotte added an insurance goal with 1:52 remaining, when Beam was awarded another penalty kick. Beam scored easily for her 14th goal of the season. Rhode Island was outshot on goal 7-3.
"That's a top 25 team in the country," coach Zach Shaw said. "And I think that what happened is we didn't score a second goal. We hit the crossbar three times which is just unbelievable but that has been sort of typical of our season. It's just incredible the number of chances [we've had]. I have no complaints about the way we've played at all and I wouldn't have changed anything except maybe the last 10 minutes."
