Photo credit: Greg Fiume
By Liam O’Murchu (@Liam_0__)
Women’s soccer drew a tightly contested 0-0 match to Fordham at home on Sunday afternoon, picking up their first point in conference play this season.
The Revolutionaries (3-3-3, 0-1-1 A10) were stout defensively, keeping their third clean sheet of the season, but struggled at times with creativity going forward. GW looked to play direct, putting balls over the top and trying to find runners in behind.
“This is the time of year when you’re talking about points, so we pick up a point.” GW head coach Michelle Demko said. “So that’s helpful right now for us. I think we had some different faces out on the field. I thought that went well and I was happy for those players to have an opportunity to showcase their skill set.”
Junior winger Kelly Poole was particularly involved for the Revs early, finding space down the left wing and causing issues for the Rams (3-4-2, 1-0-1 A10). GW’s best chance of the first half came in the 17th minute when freshman forward Kate McGrath played sophomore midfielder Aoi Kataoka in, Kataoka danced her way past a few defenders and passed her shot into the waiting arms of sophomore goalkeeper Kyla King.
On the other side, freshman forward Riley Carroll had a lot of success, consistently getting in behind GW. Her best chance of the day came in the 30th minute when her teammate won a duel in the midfield and played her through on goal. Unfortunately for Fordham, she pushed her shot wide of the far post. Heading into halftime, neither team was truly dominant but they’d both avoided making silly mistakes and giving the other team good chances.
“[At halftime] we talked about the space in behind because their line was so high.” Demko said. “And then about the type of ball that needs to be found from the wingers which can’t just be the straight ball over the top because it just goes to the keeper.”
Carroll continued to wreak havoc down GW’s right side after the break, getting in behind and playing a few dangerous balls in to go with some shots that never truly troubled GW sophomore goalkeeper Grace Crowe, who came into the game at halftime after junior Ainsley Lumpe played the first half. Crowe and Lumpe have shared time in net with graduate student goalkeeper Rose Hemans, who started the last six games coming into Sunday’s matchup.
“The communication to the team has been the same,” Demko said following the team’s 2-1 loss to Howard last week. “Whoever is performing at the highest level, whoever is consistent, that’s who is going to get the call up.”
Another defensive tweak for the Revs was the introduction of a few freshmen on the back line, including Hope Ku-Dipietro, Charlotte Li, and Abby Caoile. Ku-Dipietro in particular looked comfortable, as she wasn’t afraid to step into midfield with the ball and do a ball roll or two to pick out a pass.
“We’ve given up some goals in the last three games,” Demko said. “So I just felt like it was time for us to shuffle the deck a little bit to try to get other players on the field and play a bit and see what they can do.”
But the most crucial thing the back line did was keep the clean sheet. Credit for that is due to junior defender Alicia Window, who was a steady presence at center back and played all 90 minutes even as the Revs coaching staff tinkered a bit with the defense.
“I know they’re freshmen but they don’t play like freshmen,” Window said. “They get out there, they stay calm on the ball and listen to instructions. And that’s something unique about our freshmen, that they’re willing to learn and they’re not scared on the field.”
GW looked for answers offensively, trying to get Kataoka involved. Although they got into some dangerous spots they never truly threatened King, who finished with three saves. The decision making in chance creation and the final third was lacking today but GW would get the ball in a dangerous area once more in the 87th minute. Window curled a free kick behind the Rams defense, forcing King to come out and punch it away before the Revs could get anything on it.
Two games into conference play, GW sits tied for 10th place in the A10. Eight teams make the postseason and with eight games remaining, the Revolutionaries are well within striking distance. Although they were able to stabilize their defense, the team has not scored a goal in 244 minutes, dating back to the first half of their 3-3 draw with American.
The Revs hope to pick up their first A10 win against a La Salle squad also searching for their maiden conference win of the year. That game will kick off at 3 PM on Thursday and can be streamed on ESPN+.
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