PSU falls to RIC in double overtime

The Plymouth State University Women's soccer team lost a double overtime thriller to Rhode Island College 2-1 on Saturday, October 10 to push their losing streak to three games.

PSU first year student Jordan MacNeely got the scoring going first for PSU when she scored late in the first half off of a pass from her sophomore teammate Amy Green to put PSU up 1-0. That PSU lead would last until RIC notched the game at 1-1 when they scored with roughly six minutes remaining in the second half as senior Christina Tavana scored her fourth goal of the season. The game would remain tied as both teams went back and forth for nearly two entire overtime periods before RIC sophomore Jenna Childs scored the game-winning goal with roughly five minutes left in the second overtime.

The loss dropped PSU's overall record to 5-5-1 on the season coupled with a 1-3 Little East Conference record. RIC, on the other hand, improved to 2-7 overall and 1-3 in the LEC.

For PSU Head Coach Gene Smith, it was a bitter loss, a loss he felt was there for the taking, "It was a difficult game for us. I felt that we outplayed them in every phase of the game. We hit the crossbar three times and the post twice. There were several open opportunities missed by players that have been scoring goals without much trouble up until this point. The team knows that we let a win get away from us by not finishing off the game," said Smith, "It was just a lack of mental focus on our part in front of the net. We just need to relax and get back to executing our game a little better. We don't need to press the panic button yet."

Although this loss is a tough loss to swallow for coach Smith and his team, he was particularly pleased with a few of his players "I am very pleased with Ariana Hunt and I have been all season. She is a tremendous defender and is a big part of every game. Also, Sarah Pandiscio has been a force on the field and set up many of our scoring opportunities, it's too bad nobody put any in the back of the net, otherwise she probably would have had four or five assists in the game. Jordan MacNeely scored one of the best goals I have seen and played quite well."

PSU will look to stop their losing streak at three games and start a winning streak when they play back-to-back home games against Castleton and UMass Dartmouth. They will take on Castleton on Wednesday, October 14 at 4:30 p.m. and will play UMass Dartmouth on Fri., Oct. 16 at 4:30 p.m.. RIC look for its first back-to-back wins of the season when they play on the road against Wesleyan University on Wed., Oct. 14 at 4:00 p.m..