Soccer splits final two games

The Edinboro women’s soccer team split their last two games of the season. They won against University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown 1-0 on Oct. 24, and they lost 1-0 to Bloomsburg on Sunday.

The Fighting Scots controlled the first game with 26 shots to Johnstown’s 11.

“We just dominated the whole time,” Head Soccer Coach Gary Kagiavas said of the game. “They may have had two real opportunities, which our defense handled pretty well...it was a pretty easy game honestly. We were in control the entire time.” 

‘Boro started their attack early with Sidney Dobbins getting a shot off within 20 seconds. Rebecca Manns scored the lone goal of the game when she got a breakaway about halfway through the second half with some help from a Brittnie Spithaler pass. 

Manns attempted another shot a little over 2 minutes after her first. The Fighting Scots continued to dominate the shots, though UPJ did get an attempt off with less than 20 seconds in the game that Anna Voelker saved. 

Edinboro’s win is the sixth against UPJ in their history, who they have not lost to yet. 

“We probably should have scored five or six goals,” Kagiavas said. “We just kept missing breakaway after breakaway...I thought we were way superior. I thought we probably deserved to beat them by five or six, but at least it’s a win. It wasn’t pretty, but it’s a win.” 

The Fighting Scots then traveled to Bloomsburg on Sunday. While ‘Boro dominated the shots against UPJ, they struggled to get attempts off against the Huskies.

Both teams had three shot attempts in the first, but no one scored. 

Bloomsburg scored minutes into the second half to get on the board. ‘Boro would get a shot off with a little over 30 seconds left, but the shot was wide. Bloomsburg took the game 1-0.

Edinboro had 14 fouls in the game. 

“They are by far the most physical team in the PSAC, so that was a challenge, but I think we stood our ground fairly well,” midfielder Dobbins said. “There was a lot of fouls on both sides, but it was something we just had to push through.

She added: “Overall, we played so hard and so tough the entire game...conditions were tough as it was cold and raining the entire game, but overall we had a great battle and the outcome just didn’t favor us again.” 

The Scots end the season 6-11 overall and 5-11 in PSAC play, leaving them in 13th of 17 teams and outside of the PSAC tournament. 

Voelker ends the season with 109 saves which puts her in second for saves in a single season at Edinboro. 

Erica Burkholder can be reached at sports.spectator@gmail.com.

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