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Second Half Goals By Werre and Rhodes Give Zags Win
Sept. 17, 2009
SPOKANE, Wash. - Two second half goals by Kelsey Werre and Sarah Rhodes gave the Gonzaga University women's soccer team a 2-1 come from behind victory over Seattle University Thursday afternoon. It was a tale of two halves for the Zags who improved to 4-3-0 on the season with the non-conference victory over the Redhawks (4-5-0). Seattle was on the attack throughout the first 45 minutes, playing solid defense and eventually took advantage of a Bulldog mistake to build a 1-0 lead. After the Zags failed to clear the ball out of their zone Seattle's leading goal scorer Kara Kuttler gained control of the ball along the right side and dribbled up the left side and fired a shot into the far right corner of the net for the score. The Bulldogs had a couple chances to tie the match turned away late in the first half as SU keeper Madison Goverde made two nice saves on point blank shots from Ashley Riley and Rhodes to keep it a 1-0 Seattle lead at the half. The second half opened up with the Zags firing three of the periods first four shots, emphasizing the half time adjustment that called for the Zags to dial up the offensive pressure. "We just struggled to get things going on the offensive end in the first half but everybody stepped up and got back to playing the type of offense we are used to playing," stated Gonzaga head coach Amy Edwards. "Sarah and Kelsey really opened up the field for us with their offensive attacks which eventually led to the late goals." In the 70th minute an offensive attack by the Zags eventually led to a defensive breakdown by the Redhawks. As Seattle attempted to clear the ball out of their zone, Werre was able to gather in a loose ball and immediately turned up field along the right side. The freshman forward then unleashed a line drive shot off her right foot from 15 yards out on the right side into the far left corner of the goal to even the match at 1-1.
Minutes later the Bulldogs pressure nearly gave them the lead as Werre again got through the SU defense. She got within 15 yards before she was met by the charging keeper and was forced to take a quick shot towards the right corner that glanced off the post and back in front of the goal but was quickly covered up by Goverde. With time running down in regulation, the Zags put together a nice offensive run the resulted in the match-winner. Christi D'Agostino intercepted a pass near midfield and got the ball up to Ashley Riley who then made her way up the left sideline. Riley then slipped a pass past two Seattle defenders to Sheridan Jones who brought the ball into the left side of the keeper box and then touched a pass to Rhodes who was all alone in front of the goal and kicked in the eventual match-winner. "We had two nice goals that were the result of a couple nice plays on both sides of the ball," commented Edwards. "Kelsey was able to gain position deep in SU territory and made a great shot to even the match. The second goal had a number of players contribute. Christi and Lori Conrad held strong in the midfield and forced a bad pass. Christi quickly got the ball up the field to Ashley who then found Sheridan on a beautiful pass and Sheridan and Sarah then made two nice plays to give us the go-ahead score." The Zags finished with the advantage in shots 17-11 and used two solid performances in goal by Jessie Thalman and Amy Danielson. Thalman made three saves before giving way to Danielson to start the second half. Danielson went on to make one save and earn her first career win at GU. "Today was a good win for us," stated Edwards. "We played very well this past weekend at USC and UCLA but didn't get any wins. I was very impressed with how we adjusted and got back to playing the way we know how to play. Again it was a solid team effort, we had a lot of players contribute and need to carry this type of play over into Sunday's match against Idaho." The Bulldogs will host the University of Idaho 1 p.m. Sunday before playing their next seven matches on the road. |
