The Columbus Eagles ended a run of earning a point in three out of four games after losing 2-1 to the Cincinnati Lady Saints on Sunday.
“(I’m) a little disappointed in the outcome because I don’t think it reflects the quality of our play, but that’s soccer,” Eagles head coach Mark Wise said on his team’s performance.
The Lady Saints started off as the aggressors, creating multiple chances within the opening 15 minutes. The earliest of which came when Lauren Roll just missed a chance off a run, and Roll would continue to make runs throughout the game, especially in the first half. Roll would find herself all alone with Eagles goalkeeper Molly Schriber in the 14th minute, but Schriber cut off the angle and stuffed Roll’s attempt.
The Eagles would find themselves on t a breakaway of their own in the 17th minute and Eryn Weber was sure to finish. The Columbus forward won the ball from a Cincinnati defender and was all alone with goalkeeper Bri Alvarado and Weber would fire the shot on the ground to the bottom corner hitting off the post and finding the back of the net to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
Schriber would come up huge again, stuffing yet another breakaway chance, but Roll would get behind the defense again, receive a pass from a teammate and find herself one-on-one with Schriber again. This time, Roll would capitalize, sending her shot to the top shelf and evening the score at 1 all. Schriber would make another save, tallying up three in just the first half. Despite Schriber’s efforts the two teams went into the halftime break with a score of 1-1.
The new half would be met with the Saints controlling the ball in the Eagles’ half of the field. Scriber would make another save on an attempt from Saints’ midfielder Chinyelu Asher and Defender Donielle White released a booming shot from just past the midfield line that missed the crossbar by a small enough amount to make fans start chattering.
The Eagles would eventually answer all of the Saints chances with some chances of their own. Allison Harbart had a great chance to the side of goal but her shot hit the side netting and went out for a Saints goal kick. Eryn Weber would then be in a footrace for a loose ball in the 71st minute but Alvarado would pounce on the ball just as Weber got there, and a yellow card was issued to Weber.
Possession shifted towards the midfield during the closing moments of the games, and both teams appeared content with a draw with neither making too many aggressive pushes.
“1-1, ten minutes to go, I said ‘I (have to) go for the win,” Eagles head coach Mark Wise said. “ So I pull one of the defenders and tell her to go forward.”
Wise was questioning that decision after the game as just moments into stoppage time, Saints’ defender Leslie Twehues dribbled through the entire Eagles’ defense, brought it down to the corner and fired it past Schriber, and the Saints were able to kill the rest of the two minutes of stoppage time with ease and spoiled the Eagles’ chance to finish with a .500 home record for the season, winning 2-1.
This match concluded WPSL play for the Eagles, but Wise has high hopes for the future, saying he wants to bring his team past the .500 mark next summer.
“We made good progress this year and I hope to see similar progress next year,” Wise concluded.
The Eagles will travel for a friendly against Ohio Sirens FC to conclude their summer season next Saturday.
