The women’s soccer team remains undefeated at home but winless on the road after splitting a pair of games over the weekend. The Bulldogs (3–3–2) defeated Vermont (2–4–2), 2–1, on Friday night at Reese Stadium before suffering a 3–1 defeat at Boston University (7–2–1) on Sunday.
Though the Bulldogs dominated the first half against Vermont and took a 1–0 lead into halftime, the Catamounts battled back to tie the game in the 58th minute. Still, midfielder Enma Mullo ’12 scored the game-winning goal in the 74th minute to propel the Elis to victory.
Goalkeeper Adele Jackson-Gibson ’13 made six saves — all in the second half — to earn the win.
“I think we made it a little bit more difficult on ourselves than it needed to be,” forward Kristen Forster ’13 said. “We should have been up a few more goals at halftime, so we made the second half a little more challenging than it should have been.”
Yale controlled the ball throughout the first half, outshooting the Catamounts, 8–1, while generating numerous quality scoring chances.
Mullo threatened in the 20th minute when she stole the ball from a Vermont defender and dribbled deep into the box, but Vermont goalkeeper Sarah Leiby came out to block the shot.
The Bulldogs generated another opportunity in the 33rd minute after midfielder Meredith Speck ’15 sent a cross into the box for forward Frannie Coxe ’15, but her header went directly into Leiby’s arms.
Vermont was 38 seconds away from escaping the first half unscathed, but the Elis capitalized with Forster’s first goal of the season. After Vermont turned the ball over, forward Georgiana Wagemann ’15 slid a ball to Forster, who shot it into the lower right corner of the near post to put the Bulldogs up, 1–0.
“I thought we played very well in the first half,” head coach Rudy Meredith said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t have a second goal to show for the good play, which kept [Vermont] in the game mentally.”
The Catamounts came out stronger in the second half and began pressuring Yale. Though the Bulldogs outshot the Catamounts 8–1 in the first half, Vermont turned the tables on the Elis after halftime and finished with a 12–4 edge in the second frame.
Just two minutes into the second half, Vermont forward Bre Pletnick rocketed a left footed shot towards the net, forcing Jackson-Gibson to make a leaping save.
Vermont produced another dangerous opportunity in the 54th minute when Midori Eckenstein fired a shot that hit the crossbar and bounced back in front of the net, but midfielder Trish Berkanish ’13 tracked the ball down and cleared it out of the Catamounts’ range.
Vermont broke through in the 58th minute to knot the contest. After a foul on Yale gave the Catamounts a free kick directly in front of the box, Alexa DeMaio converted with a high shot just below the middle of the crossbar to tie the game, 1–1.
But the Elis quickly regained control and responded in the 74th minute. Coxe came down the left side of the field and sent a cross ahead to Mullo, who settled the pass before drilling it into the inside of the near post. It was her first goal of the season.
“I felt like it was coming,” Mullo said. “I had that one chance [in the first half], and I had another one in the second half. But I felt like I was going to score today, so I was pretty happy when I did.”
The Bulldogs’ lead would ultimately stand, giving them their third win of the season.
The Elis returned to action on Sunday when they traveled to Massachusetts to take on a Boston University squad that was temporarily ranked No. 20 in the nation. In a dogfight between Bulldogs and Terriers, BU came out on top, defeating Yale, 3–1.
Though the Elis came back from an early deficit to tie the game in the first half, BU netted two second-half goals to emerge with the win.
The Terriers scored 10 minutes into the contest on a goal from Brittany Heist to take an early lead. The goal was set up by Jessica Luscinski, who placed a corner kick in front of the net. Two Terriers took unsuccessful shots before Heist sneaked a shot through traffic and into the back of the net to put BU up, 1–0.
Jackson-Gibson started the game between the pipes for the Elis, but left the game at the 17:58 mark when she came down hard after making a leaping save. Though Jackson-Gibson suffered some whiplash on the play, she is not expected to miss any more games, according to Meredith. Freshman keeper Elise Wilcox ’15 came in to replace Jackson-Gibson and stayed on for the remainder of the game. It was Wilcox’s first collegiate appearance.
The Bulldogs fought back to tie the game in the 21st minute on Mullo’s second goal of the weekend. Mullo took a pass from Forster and shot it over BU goalkeeper Kelley King and into the right corner of the net.
“I thought we did a good job staying in the game and competing with them,” Meredith said. “I was very happy with our performance in the first half.”
Heist’s second goal of the afternoon broke the tie and put the Terriers ahead, 2–1, in the 62nd minute of play. Heist took a corner kick from Kylie Strom and headed it into the left corner of the net.
BU secured the win with a last minute insurance goal from Madison Clemens, who intercepted a clearance shot from Wilcox and sent the ball into the back of the Yale net, giving the Terriers a 3–1 victory.
The Bulldogs now turn their attention to the start of Ivy League competition, which opens this Saturday at Princeton.
“I’m happy with the way we played, and if we play like this against Princeton, I think we’ll be okay,” Meredith said.
Kickoff against the Tigers is slated for 3:30 p.m. in Princeton, N.J.