Though it was senior night for the Yale women’s soccer team, a Brown freshman stole the show.
Saturday night, the Bears (10-4-2, 4-3-0 Ivy) ended the Elis’ (9-7-1, 2-4-1) season on a sour note with a 1-0 victory at Soccer-Lacrosse Stadium. Brown freshman Kathryn Moos scored the game-winner with three seconds left in the first half, and despite a slew of opportunities in the final frame, the Bulldogs could not score the equalizer.
“We get an A-plus for battling, but when you work that hard, you deserve a goal, so you have to finish,” Yale head coach Rudy Meredith said. “It defeats the purpose of doing all that work if you don’t finish the play by scoring the goal.”
Yale outshot Brown 11-4 in the second half, with several good scoring opportunities inside the box.
With 19:14 remaining in the half, midfielder Trista Choksi ’07 rifled a shot from the top of the box that nailed the crossbar.
In the 72nd minute, midfielder Laurel Karnes ’06 had the ball in the box on a tough angle, but shot high. Shortly after, Choksi out-hustled Brown goalkeeper Sarah Gervais to the ball on a free kick by Lee Anne Jasper ’04. Choksi fed Karnes, but Karnes narrowly missed the net high again.
“[Meredith] put Laurel Karnes into the middle. She has a great left-foot shot; we were trying to deny her from getting anything on her left foot,” Brown head coach Phil Pincince said.
Yale fought hard in the second half, with midfielders Christina Huang ’07 and team captain Jasper playing in visible pain. In the waning minutes of the game, the Bulldogs pushed four strikers up, and though they put forward a flurry of scoring attempts, they could not finish.
The Elis fell behind with just three seconds left in the first half, when Moos got a step on her defender near the top of the box and hooked a shot low and inside the near post.
“That’s a horrible goal to give up,” Meredith said. “You can’t give up goals like that.”
The goal was Moos’ eighth of the year, good for seventh place in the Ivy League.
“It caught me a little off guard,” Eli goalkeeper Sarah Walker ’05 said. “It caught us all off guard, especially with three seconds left in the half. You can’t let your guard down even for a second.”
Moos had nearly given Brown the lead earlier in the half, when, with 16:40 remaining, she hooked a shot over Walker that hit the inside of the right post and bounced out along the goal line.
“[Moos] is very, very dangerous,” Pincince said. “She dazzles people. She’s had a phenomenal freshman year.”
For Brown, 2002 All-Ivy goalkeeper Gervais made four saves in her conference-leading ninth shutout of the season. Walker had six saves for Yale.
The loss ended any Eli hopes of an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, whereas Brown will have to wait until 4 p.m. today to learn its fate. The Bulldogs are finishing the season sixth in the Ancient Eight. In 2002, Yale finished fifth in the conference and earned a bid to its first-ever postseason.
“I still think that we could have done a little better for the talent we have,” Meredith said. “I take that personally [and] I take responsibility as a coach because our team didn’t play to their potential.”
Prior to the game, ceremonies honoring seniors Jasper and Joni Baker ’04 took place. Next season, the Bulldogs return all but one starter and their five leading goal-scorers.
“We were all definitely disappointed at losing,” Walker said. “We were pretty young this year. It could be used in a positive way for motivation for next year.”
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