University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Florida Atlantic
Women's Soccer Falls To Florida Atlantic, 1-0
09/11/2005 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 11, 2005
RICHMOND, Va. - The University of Richmond women's soccer team kept the pressure on Florida Atlantic throughout Sunday's match, but a first-half goal coming on a header allowed the Owls to take a 1-0 victory in the VCU/Eurosport Invitational.
"We played very well today, I'm disappointed but not discouraged," Richmond head coach Peter Albright said. "Florida Atlantic was a tremendous team, they had two outstanding players (Denise Brolly and Susanna Lehtinen), but I think we did a great job of controlling them."
Richmond out-shot Florida Atlantic 8-5 in the first half, controlling most of the play, but the Owls' Daneille DiLeo was able to get her head on a cross by Denise Brolly that left Richmond keeper Kelly Kolker (McLean, Va.) with no time to react.
Playing with the lead in the second half, Florida Atlantic (3-3-0) played very aggressive and out-shot the Spiders 11-4. Richmond did have several scoring opportunities, but could not find the back of the net.
"We tried to keep moving the ball, but they played destructive and were very direct in the second half," Albright said. "They played the way you're supposed to play with a lead and that made it hard on us to keep the ball and move the ball. We have to be a better team than that."
Florida Atlantic's Megan Coyne and Jessica Badders each made two saves in combining on the shutout. Kolker would finish the match with seven saves, but the majority of those Florida Atlantic shots on goal came from outside the 18-yard box.
"We've made great strides defensively and I'm very pleased with the play in the midfield," Albright said. "The next part is the hardest, we have to score goals."
Richmond freshman Jessie Wolfe (Germantown, Md.), the reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week, who leads the team with six points on two goals, led the Spiders with six shots. She finished the VCU/Eurosport Invitational with 10 shots in two games and earned all-tournament honors. Freshman Susan Boyer (Paoli, Pa.) also earned all-tournament honors with her strong play in the back. Senior Annette Isham (Dever, Colo.) took three shots Sunday.
"We knew coming into the season that we weren't going to be that dangerous, but we have to be better at creating scoring opportunities," Albright said. "We didn't do enough of that today, especially in the second half."
After playing six-straight games away from campus, the Spiders (2-3-1) have their home opener on Friday night at 8 p.m., when they host West Virginia at First Market Stadium. That match will be the second of a doubleheader as the Richmond men's team will play city-rival and nationally-ranked VCU at 5:30 p.m.
