The GW women’s soccer lost on the road Sunday, falling 2-0 to La Salle in their second straight conference loss.
The team, coming off a loss against Fordham Friday in their Atlantic 10 opener, took 11 shots on goal but could not put the ball into the back of the net.
“We just didn’t capitalize on our opportunities,” coach Tanya Vogel said. “We had some chances, especially two fantastic opportunities at the start of the second, but we couldn’t make it happen.”
La Salle applied a lot of offensive pressure on the Colonial defense, scoring twice in the second half.
“They hit us with a lot of shots,” freshman goalie Lindsey Rowe said. “We’re used to being able to kick the ball around in the back, but they kept hitting us, and we had to play quicker, so we ended up kicking the ball out more.”
Friday’s double-overtime 3-2 loss to Fordham was especially painful for GW. After senior forward Meg Pyle scored her third goal of the season to put the team ahead 2-0 in the 61st minute, Fordham was awarded a penalty kick for a controversial handball call in the box in the 73rd. The Rams converted and then tied the game off a corner kick later in the half.
“The ref admitted that he had a bad game,” Vogel said. “He missed two Fordham handballs in the middle there, and he made a lot of calls their way.”
Pyle added, “I don’t what (the referee) was seeing. I still don’t know what that penalty was for.”
Vogel’s team is now 0-2 in Atlantic 10 play, but she is not worried yet. After Friday’s game, she thought the team had played its best game so far. She had similar thoughts about yesterday’s game.
“Honestly, the girls did everything I asked them to,” Vogel said. “It’s unfortunate that we lost two games, but I’m not making any big adjustments for this weekend.”
Aside from working on a few technical elements, Vogel believes the team is ready and motivated for their upcoming games.
“The girls kind of had a chip on their shoulder after Friday’s game,” Vogel said. “They felt like they let one get away, and now it’s two, and it’s kind of a good thing because they’re going to work for it this weekend.”
Up next for the Colonials is a game against Massachusetts Friday at the Mount Vernon Athletic Complex. UMass is 1-0-1 in Atlantic 10 play so far. GW also plays Rhode Island this weekend.
“We’re looking forward to playing well this weekend,” Vogel said. “We know these teams have been struggling some and, well, we’re OK with that. We’d like to keep it that way for them.”
