3-0-1
Drexel
1-2-0
Katie Roberts Lifts Bulls To 1-0 Victory Over Drexel
8/31/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo women's soccer team (3-0-1, 0-0-0 MAC) remains unbeaten on the season thanks to a 57th minute goal by senior forward Katie Roberts. Roberts' goal lifted the Bulls to a 1-0 victory over the Drexel Dragons at UB Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
"I am extremely proud of the girls after their effort out there today," said head coach Shawn Burke. "Drexel really battled us today. It was uncharacteristic for us to face someone with that type of play so we were asked to change our style a bit. I can't stress enough how the whole team effort is getting us these results and from top to bottom I'm proud of the girls and their effort."
Freshman goalkeeper Laura Dougall extended her shutout streak to 380 minutes on Sunday, the longest shutout streak by a freshman to start a career in program history. Dougall finished the game with three saves, all of which were diving saves for the Pickering, Ontario native.
The game-winning goal for the Bulls came in the 57th minute as Roberts took a perfect pass from team captain Courtney Mann and she fired a low shot into the lower left corner of the goal. Roberts' shot was perfectly placed, just out of the reach of junior goalkeeper Kelsie Fye.
Choosing to play with the wind in the second half, the Bulls defense was called upon early and often in the opening half. In the sixth minute, Civanni Moss of the Dragons had a great low strike that Dougall made a great diving stop on. Later on, the UB defense held the Drexel forward out wide but her shot got through to Dougall, who was asked to make another diving stop with her right hand to preserve the 0-0 tie.
With the advantage of the wind in the second half, the Bulls took full advantage as they scored the game-winning goal in the 57th minute following a Megan Giesen header that went just over the cross bar in the 56th minute.
The Dragons had their best chance of the second half in the 87th minute as Megan Hammaker blasted a hard shot from the right of the goal but Dougall was able to lunge to her right and make her third diving save of the contest, preserving her fourth straight clean sheet.
It was a tale of two halves for the Bulls as they finished the opening half with just one shot while the second half they recorded eight attempts. For the game, Buffalo held the slim 9-8 advantage in shots while Drexel had the 7-4 advantage in corners. Jackie Hall, Sophie Therien and Kristin Markiewicz had a strong game in the back end for UB, allowing only three long distance shots on goal.
Fye finished the game for the Dragons with two saves while Hammaker led all players with four shots in the game.
Following the match, Mann was awarded the "Player of the Match" award by the UB coaching staff after a great game defensively to preserve the clean sheet for Dougall.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH (Through four games)
St. Bonaventure – Jackie Hall
Canisius - Angel Hart
Duquesne – Sophie Therien
Drexel – Courtney Mann
Team Stats
ROBERTS, Katie (1)
Assisted By: MANN, Courtney
Lower right corner
57:38
