The University of Mary Washington women's soccer team used a pair of first half goals and excellent defense to take down CNU, 2-0, on Saturday afternoon at Roy Gordon Field in Fredericksburg, Va.
The Eagles first goal came off of
Maci Landel's cross that found the head of
Naomi Knight, who knocked the ball past a jumping Captain keeper to put UMW up a goal 20 minutes into the match. Then, after a foul in the box was called on CNU in the box with a minute left in the first half, it was Landel who delivered the back-breaker to CNU as she gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead entering the half.
CNU, though, didn't go away easy as it applied pressure on the Eagles' defense thorughout the second half, but the backline was able to force the Captains into some tough shots. Christopher Newport had a string of four consecutive shots from the 50' mark to the 57' as the first one went high before the third one was wide left -- keeper
Emily Orn made a pair of saves on the second and fourth attempts.
In the 63', CNU had another attempt sail wide before another shot went high in the 75'. The Captains took another in the 76' -- which was blocked -- then again in the 77' that sailed high. And the final attempt came in the 79' and from there, UMW controlled possession for the rest of the evening.
In the 83',
Skye Lawhun received a pass from outside of the box as she stood on the far post, but her header -- and potential score -- was stopped by the crossbar before
Layla Royster took a shot that needed to be saved by the CNU keeper.
For the afternoon, CNU led in shots by three, 12-9, but it was UMW who led in shots-on-goal with four; meanwhile, CNU had three. Orn came away with three saves in the process, while the defense had the Captain offense looking lost with plenty of awkward shot attempts.
The Eagles are back in action on Wednesday at Shenandoah in Winchester, Va. First touch is set for 7:00 p.m.
