Pioneer LogLewis & Clark College’s Student-Run Newspaper

Soccer defeats Warner Pacific in double overtime

September 10, 2010

by Scott Pisapia

 

“Relieved.”
That is what midfielder Emilia Emmetti (’14) felt after she scored the winning goal in the second overtime of the LC women’s opening soccer game against Warner Pacific at home on September 1.

The Pioneers, currently 1-0 overall, combined scrappy, physical defense with constant looking-to-score offense to fend off the Knights from Portland.

The game, going into the second overtime with the score still 0-0, had reached the 115 minute of play when Lexi Bolton (’13) was fouled in the box by a WP defender as the Pioneers crossed the ball from the grandstand side of the field to the middle.

Emmetti, who lead the Pioneers with five shot attempts in the game, was chosen by new head coach, Jim Tursi, to take the penalty kick. And that’s when the fun began.
“I wasn’t thinking clearly,” recalled Emmetti as she stepped up to the free kick. “My plan was to go right, but I had to change at the last second because she read me.”
Emmetti lined up from 12 yards out and with her right foot darted the ball into the upper section of the middle of the net.

The Pioneers stormed the field, as the game ended 1-0 due to “sudden death” (first to score wins) rules. After scoring the goal, Emmetti slowly turned to her right and with a blank stare on her face was bombarded by teammates. The reaction being polar to what you would expect from a game-winning shot.

Early in the first half, sophomore goalie Elyse Delgado (’12) got used to the spiff-looking new turf at LC with a couple of diving plunges to consume the ball.

Delgado played all 45 minutes in the first half with one save recorded before handing over the reigns to Shayna Lentz (’12) who proceeded to protect the net for the rest of the 58 minutes of the game, recording two saves along the way.

Lentz and Delgado, with the help of their defense lead by  Cat Kitts (’11) kept WP from ever getting a real clean look at the net in the game.

The same can’t be said for WP’s defense.  First-year Pioneer, Andi Glaeser (’14), showed off her speed as she outran the defense to chase down over-the-top kicks numerous times with good looks around the box.

In the first half, Glaeser found the ball more often than not, and used her quick first step to advance the ball from the left forward position.

Alongside Glaeser, was Katie Browning (’11); the two worked together to take the ball from midfield to scoring ground time after time in the game.

Browning was second for the Pioneers with four shot attempts in the game, all four shots being on goal to lead the Pioneers in that category.

As Browning and Glaeser showed off their speed, Natalie Levy (’14) (one shot on goal), Traci Nakamura (’13), and Natalie Stratton (’12) (one shot on goal) used fearless ball-hunting skills to bully around and bruise up the WP players.

During one exchange in the middle of the game, Stratton and a WP player were both running down a ball towards the Pioneers bench. As the WP player got closer, Stratton protected house and gave a warm-welcome to LC with a solid, but legal body bump that left the WP player startled – gulping out the only word that could come to mind – “Whoa!”
This activity caught the eye of new head coach, Jim Tursi.
“We dominated play the whole game,” said a pleased Tursi after starting the season with a win. “We were active and physical across the field.”

Tursi, who played and lettered four times at the University of Portland during his college days, still holds records for all-time leader in goals and assists at his alma mater. The record scoring Tursi hopes to rub off some of his goal-scoring ways onto his Pioneer bunch.

“We are going to need to put the ball in the net in order to win games in the NWC (Northwest Conference),” said Tursi. “We’re a young team, but we have a group that plays together. I hope to bring a winner’s mentality to the program and a sense of professionalism.”

Although the Pioneers didn’t put the ball in the net as much as they would have liked, they covered the field like bandits and put forth more than double the shots that their opponent attempted (LC – 20 shot attempts with 7 shots on goal, WP – 6 shot attempts with 3 shots on goal).
“The girls were fitter than I expected,” said Tursi.

And boy was it good they were.
Emmetti and teammates looked exulted and drained all in one as they exited LC’s Fred Wilson field.
“I was just happy to be done with it,” said Emmetti.
You will be having those same reactions during Final Exam time young lady. Get used to it.