Western Connecticut spoils RIC Homecoming, again, in 3-1 takedown of women's soccer
Tim Yean
Managing Editor
(PROVIDENCE, R.I.) – Second-year midfielder Sarah Pimentel’s penalty kick goal should have turned the tide for the Anchorwomen soccer team’s hopes in the 86th minute. 12 seconds later, Western Connecticut State University threw that momentum in the trash and slammed in a goal to swipe the lead back.
That goal and another insurance deposit were enough for WestConn to stun the Anchorwomen on RIC’s Homecoming Day, 3-1, and hand RIC their second loss in the Little East Conference, falling behind the Wolves in the LEC standings, the victors having a 3-1-3 mark in-conference.
The loss adds a rare blemish to the Anchorwomen’s home record this season, entering the Homecoming Day contest 5-1 at Alumni Stadium. It also continues an infamous non-winning streak versus WestConn, posting an unreal 0-21-1 record in the contests between the two teams dating back to October 2007.
“Coming into this game, we knew this would be a tough opponent, just considering our past against them,” second-year defender/forward Madison Peixinho told RIC Athletics in a postgame interview.
It’s also the second time in the same number of years that a WestConn soccer team ushered a comeback to down a RIC soccer team on Homecoming Day. Just last year, the Wolves’ men came back down 2-1 to shock the Anchormen in a 3-2 victory.
Fourth-year goalkeeper Nicole Nunes made a pair of saves in the defeat to fall to 3-2-1 in the Little East Conference season alongside the team. Pimentel’s goal tied the Cranston, Rhode Island native for the team lead on the season with five heading into the waning weeks of the regular season.
Throughout the contest, live music was playing directly behind the home bleachers of the stadium as part of the ‘Family Festival’ held during Homecoming festivities on Saturday, which made match day more unorthodox compared to how a usual home match at the field goes.
The Wolves scored the lone goal in the half with an 18th-minute snipe from third-year forward Shannon Anderson off an assist from second-year back/midfielder Noelle Haasse. The field remained silent for the rest of the half as neither team found the back of the net.
The match would continue to be a suppressed affair for over another half-hour entering the second half, finally unclogged in the 84th minute, when fourth-year forward Abigail Corcoran was called for a foul inside the WestConn penalty box. The penalty allowed Sarah Pimentel to cleanly slip by her shot for the first goal of the match for the Anchorwomen.
The celebrations were immediately cut short, as right after kickoff, WestConn hurried onto the attacking side and, with passes from second-year Madelyn Dwyer and fourth-year Jasmine Islami, second-year Delaney Israel fired in the match-deciding goal to regain control.
The visitors were not done securing the victory, as two minutes later in the 88th minute, Dwyer recorded her second point of the match with a goal to shut down any idea of a RIC response.
A prime opportunity to begin a rebound comes Wednesday afternoon for the Anchorwomen, when they have their final non-conference match, a Senior Day showdown versus Worcester State University, Oct. 21 at 4:00 p.m.
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