Women’s soccer clinched a spot in the Atlantic 10 Championship in a double-overtime win against Davidson Thursday.
After allowing two goals in the first half, the Colonials (10–6–1, 6–3–0 A-10) netted three unanswered goals to take the 3–2 win against the Davidson Wildcats (2–13–1, 0–8–1 A-10).
The win guarantees an appearance in the postseason tournament for the Colonials for the sixth consecutive season.
Senior forward Sofia Pavon made a team-high two goals on nine shots. Her second goal of the game broke the 2–2 draw to push GW to victory.
“I just told myself not to give up and to try and stay consistent,” Pavon said. “I didn’t want to let myself coast and I think I did a good job of trying to find opportunities throughout the whole game.”
Although the Colonials emerged victorious, Davidson’s competitive performance made it a tightly contested battle despite the Wildcats having no conference wins on the season.
For the first 10 minutes of play, the Colonial offense was aggressive, outshooting the Wildcats 4–1. Their offensive outburst was soon stifled and the next 10 minutes saw neither team take a shot.
[gwh_image id=”1068919″ credit=”Ben Adams | Hatchet Photographer” size=”embedded-img”]Freshman midfielder Alexandra Filipkowski looks for a way around a Davidson defender.[/gwh_image]
The stalemate soon tipped in Davidson’s favor.
In the 30th minute, a corner kick from Davidson led to a scramble just feet away from the Colonials’ net. Despite a diving effort by senior goalkeeper Anna Tapen, Davidson midfielder Emma Nguyen found a clear shot and put the Wildcats on the board first.
Four minutes later, Davidson struck again. A free kick directly in front of the goal slipped past the Colonials’ defense, doubling the Wildcats’ lead.
Heading into halftime, the Wildcats had six shots on goal to the Colonials’ four. In the second half, the Wildcats had two shots on goal while the Colonials notched 11.
“It was really a tale of two halves,” head coach Michelle Demko said. “We played like two different teams in the first half versus the second.”
GW’s more aggressive play soon produced results. Seventeen minutes into the second half, sophomore midfielder Kelly Amador gave the Colonials their first goal off an assist from Pavon. Amador took a field-leading seven shots on goal throughout the game.
“It’s hard to come back from being down two, but once we got the first one, we knew we had this and that we could score two more,” Pavon said.
The Colonials did not let up, following Amador’s goal with eight more shots on goal in 17 minutes.
With six minutes remaining in regular time, another shot found its way to the back of the net – courtesy of Pavon – to send the game into overtime.
In the first 10-minute half, GW had six shots on goal to Davidson’s zero. But neither team was able to score, forcing a double overtime.
With a mere six minutes left in play, Pavon scored her second goal of the afternoon, clinching her team’s sixth consecutive postseason berth and turning what could have been Davidson’s first conference win of the season into a double-overtime loss.
The Colonials ended the night outshooting the Wildcats 32–10. A total of 10 GW players got shots off in the match.
Demko said the win demonstrates her team’s resilience and determination.
“Scoring three unanswered goals says a lot about the fight we had today, mentally and physically,” Demko said. “It gives us the right kind of momentum going into the A-10.”
The Colonials return to action against Saint Louis Sunday at 2 p.m.
