Saint Louis women’s soccer played two thrilling overtime matches at Hermann Stadium, defeating the VCU Rams and the George Washington Colonials by final scores of 2-1 in both games.
Against VCU, SLU went down a goal early, but managed to battle back with a goal in regulation from sophomore forward Maddie Pokorny. Then, sophomore forward Lindsay Sands scored the game-winning goal in the first period of overtime, off an assist from senior forward Danielle Tolmais, to give SLU the victory.
SLU left it late again against George Washington. An early goal brought SLU the lead, before George Washington equalized midway through the second half. SLU then scored the winner in double overtime, less than a minute into the 10-minute second overtime period.
The win brought women’s soccer to an overall 14-3-2 record, including a 7-1-2 Atlantic 10 conference record. The Billikens should be very proud of their performance, having finished in second place in the A-10 despite having been picked to only finish tenth by A-10 coaches in the preseason poll.
Tolmais scored her team leading tenth goal of the season to give the Billikens a lead in the 19th minute. The goal came off of an assist from senior forward Cristina Rodriguez. Sands’ sixth goal of the season then ended the game in the 101st minute. Sands’ goal came from senior midfielder Tori Marshall.
Interestingly enough, Sands appears to have a knack for showing up in big moments. Overall, the goal against George Washington is her third game-winning goal of the season, and the second in as many games when coupled with her goal against VCU
Next up for the Billikens will be a matchup against the Dayton Flyers in the Atlantic 10 conference tournament. Rhode Island will host the tournament, and Saint Louis enters as the second seed behind only the Saint Joseph’s Hawks.
However, despite SLU’s strong play in and out of the A-10 this season, they will need to be wary against a tricky Flyers team. The Flyers and Billikens battled to a draw on Sept. 29, in the A-10 opener, and SLU will want to avoid giving the Flyers any chance to stay in the game.
One redeeming quality, however, is that SLU has tended to come out on top this season in close matches. SLU is 5-0-2 in overtime matches this season, including 4-0-2 versus Atlantic 10 opponents. Saint Louis is also 9-2 in games this season that have been decided by a one-goal margin.
If the Billikens beat the Flyers, they will advance to the semifinals and play the winner of the Duquesne-against-George Washington game. Another victory would take them to the championship game.
The first round begins on Thursday, Nov. 3, and the championship match will take place on Sunday, Nov. 6.
Conference seedings are as follows: the No. 1 seed is Saint Joseph’s, followed by SLU at No. 2. Duquesne is No. 3, while No. 4 is George Mason. The No. 5 seed is Fordham, and the No. 6 seed is George Washington. The final two teams to make it into the conference championships were Dayton and Rhode Island, at No. 7 and No. 8 respectively.
