Going into their game Thursday afternoon, women’s soccer’s last memories of playing La Salle were bad ones. They were of a double overtime loss in the Atlantic 10 Championship semifinals that knocked the Colonials out of the 2014 postseason, and a 3-0 shutout defeat before that.
They wanted revenge, and finally got it after 98 minutes of play when freshman Sofia Pavon netted a penalty kick that gave the Colonials a 2-1 overtime victory and a 3-0 record in A-10 play for the first time since 2010.
“We’re all really happy about it for sure,” Pavon said. “We wanted to get this win. Especially what happened last year, seniors would tell us this is a game we had to win. So when they said I had to go and take that [penalty kick], I was like, alright, I can’t miss because they’ll kill me.”
La Salle struck first in the 50th minute when forward Deja Davis snuck a ball, out of a post-corner kick scrum in front of the net, over the goal-line.
GW equalized just eight minutes later when junior Lina Proska drove a ball from 20 yards out to the bottom right corner of the net off an assist from redshirt senior Nicole Belfonti, giving the Colonials enough offense to take the game to overtime where senior Kristi Abbate drew a foul taking the ball into the box to set up Pavon.
The Colonials have now won six straight games, the last two coming in extra time, which head coach Sarah Barnes attributed to their mental conditioning as much as their physical stamina.
“These guys doing a really good job of being sort of disciplined to try to execute the things that we’re asking them,” Barnes said. “We’ve been working on things for a full year and really trying to grind it in, sort of like use a sharpie and put it in indelible marker on their brains.”
Aside from the breakdown that allowed La Salle’s one goal, GW’s defense was dominant. The Colonials outshot the Explorers 8-4 on the night and redshirt sophomore goalie Miranda Horn had two saves.
The Colonials look for their fourth-straight win Sunday when they host Massachusetts at 1 p.m.
Dan Rich contributed reporting.