Senior Lindsay Bruno knew the GW women’s soccer team’s journey to Omaha, Neb. this weekend would be well worth the trip. The Colonials beat the South Dakota State Jack Rabbits 1-0 Friday night before tying Creighton 2-2 Sunday at the annual Diadora Classic held at Creighton University.
“We went into the games ready to work,” Bruno said. “It starts at defense and works to offense from protecting the goal to putting goals away. We weren’t going to back down.”
The host Blue Jays won the tourney by a slim margin. Both GW and CU won their first games of the tourney, but the Blue Jays scored more points than the Colonials on the weekend. CU defeated Western Illinois University 4-0 in its first round game Friday.
The Colonials are now 2-1-2 and will play James Madison University on the road on Thursday at 7 p.m.
After defeating South Dakota, GW played Creighton in the tourney final.
“Going into the game, we knew this wasn’t going to be an easy game,” Bruno said. “We knew (Creighton) was good competition.”
The Blue Jays scored the first goal at the 20:15 mark, but the Colonials responded just two minutes later. At 22:08, sophomore Sarah Sample passed to sophomore Lise Backman, who hammered in a 20-yard shot to tie the score at one apiece.
Early in the second half, the Blue jays took a 2-1 lead, and again the Colonials responded. At the 57:19 mark, Backman assisted another Sample goal to tie the game at two.
The teams battled through two overtimes but the offenses could not break through.
Backman, along with freshman Kiki Colker and sophomore Nicole Cavino, was selected to the all-tournament team.
“We played hard and didn’t let up for 120 minutes,” Bruno said. “We kept fighting so that we wouldn’t remain down for long.”
In the first game of the weekend, GW defeated South Dakota State 1-0. Colker scored the Colonials’ lone goal, which was assisted by Junior Ina Kain.
Colker’s goal was a nifty header that came in the game’s first five minutes. The Colonials’ defense stayed strong the entire game, allowing only two shots on goal, which junior goalkeeper Anna Handzlik stopped.
“Our team is growing as a unit. We have a solid defense and a talented midfield,” Bruno said. “We’re learning to work off each other, which I think the games this weekend demonstrated.”
