Villanova’s women’s soccer team lost its past two away games. It lost, 4-0, at UConn on Thursday and 1-0, at DePaul, on Sunday. The Wildcats’ record now stands at 4-6-7 overall.
“We knew we had to win the [UConn] game in order to keep ourselves in the driver’s seat for the playoffs and you know there’s a lot of emotion in that,” head coach Samar Azem said.
“It’s the first time in a long time that the team has been in a must-win situation, and some of our youthfulness came into play and some of our lack of experience in a situation like that came into play. It’s part of growing, you have to face those pressure moments.”
The Wildcats started off strong against UConn with an opportunity in the 10th minute, as graduate student Jackie Richards sent a shot from the top of the 18-yard box right into Huskies’ goalkeeper Kaitlyn Mahoney’s hands. However, things started to turn in the Huskies favor towards the middle of the first half when UConn’s Sophie McCarthy headed in a corner kick in the 22nd minute of the game.
A couple minutes later, the Wildcats found themselves in another dangerous situation when a failed set piece led to a breakaway. Graduate goalkeeper Payton Woodward rushed back, just in time to make a diving save on UConn’s Anaya Jordan’s 20-yard shot. Despite this, at the 34th minute of the game, the Huskies scored again off a corner kick, this time with Joyce Ryder finding Johnson in the box. This sent the Wildcats into the locker room down, 2-0, at the half.
Missing from the game was junior midfielder Maddie Fried, who received a red card due to unsportsmanlike conduct after a physical altercation with an opponent during the Marquette game.
“[Fried] has been a consistent starter for us in the midfield,” Azem said. “Not having her made it tougher but I think a lot of players stepped up and did really well. Even if she was playing we still would have seen some of those learning curves.”
Coming into the second half, the Wildcats were still struggling, and after a miscue on a clearance attempt by Woodward, the Huskies scored their third of the game, making their lead 3-0. Junior midfielder Susanna Soderman had a good attempt in the 61st minute that just hit the post, while freshman midfielder Gabby Koluch also added to the shots on goal count just minutes later. However, in the 78th minute, the Huskies sealed their victory with their fourth and final goal from Abbey Jones. The four conceived goals marked the most an opponent has scored on the Wildcats since the 2021 season.
“UConn’s first three goals were more errors on our part instead of substantial goals on their part,” Azem said. “Credit to them though they are a fantastic team. If we had been the team we had been all season I think it would have been a tighter game. I think it’s just a learning experience dealing with the emotion that comes with a game like that.”
On Sunday, Oct. 22, the Wildcats fell 1-0 against DePaul. DePaul only outshot Villanova by a mere 13-11 margin, with both teams only having three shots on goal. For the Wildcats, two of their shots on goal came from junior midfielder Brigid Molloy.
Woodward was not tested much on the day with only three shot attempts from the Blue Demons. A jumping grab in the 44th minute kept the match scoreless heading into halftime.
At the 83rd minute, the Wildcats had a strong change to score through a breakaway by Richards. During the one-on-one chance with Blue Demon goalie Elena Milam Richards was denied and momentum quickly shifted towards the Blue Demons.
After a free kick, DePaul’s Ellie Mink got the ball to DePaul’s Susie Soderstrom who shot the ball beyond Woodward’s reach for the game winner.
“It was DePaul’s senior day, they had all the motivation in the world,” Azem said. “Our team could have just said ‘Hey we’re done, the season’s over,’ but they didn’t. They were extremely resilient. We saw a lot of growth from them. The game showed that our team has a lot of fight, it just wasn’t our year this year to really come up. I think we still needed to learn some lessons.”
The Wildcats will return home to the Higgins Soccer Complex on Thursday, Oct. 26 for their last regular season game against Providence. Kick off is set for 3:30 p.m.
