A crowd of 300 plus people gathered at Edith Robb Dixon Field, to watch a battle of attrition between Cabrini and Marywood University woman’s soccer teams in a 0-0 tie after 110 minutes in a double overtime match.
Being that it was family weekend at Cabrini, the two teams were in the spotlight and 4 o’clock was show time as Cabrini College families’ witnessed this intense game on Saturday, Sept. 22.
“In the beginning I was a little nervous,” freshman Dana Peterson said about playing for Cabrini, “but everyone is so welcoming. Every day I feel like we get better and bond as a team.”
Marywood is ranked number one in the CSAC conference. Cabrini is right behind them in second.
Coming into this game it was apparent that both teams would be evenly matched and it would be a battle to determine the top team in the CSAC.
The entire first half was filled with great attacking chances from both teams but their efforts were soiled by amazing goaltending by Maddy Edwards and Victoria Pezdirtz.
Marywood almost scored towards the end of the first half. In the 41st minute, a chipped pass from a Marywood player just outside the penalty box went up and over a Cabrini defender. It came down and Rachel Lamoreaux tried to volley the ball in past Edwards.
But Edwards jumped up in front of the foot of Lamoreaux to stop the chance from in tight.
At halftime, the two teams had combined for 10 shots, six shots coming from Cabrini and four shots coming from Marywood. The goalkeepers were called upon to make 5 saves combined with one for Edwards and four for Pezdirtz.
As the second half began, Cabrini opened up with an aggressive onslaught of shots, 11 shots total in the second half forcing Pezdirtz to make eight saves.
Most of these shots were easily controlled by Pezdirtz but in the 86th minute, Melissa Scanzano took a long shot from 25 yards out that was targeted for the top right corner.
Pezdirtz tried to catch the ball as she jumped up, but couldn’t hold on and smacked the ball out in front of the goal. It was loose in the penalty box but as two Cabrini attacking players tried to kick the loose ball into the net, a Marywood defender was able to step in and clear it out of the zone.
The game remained scoreless as regulation time ran out forcing overtime.
The game then progressed into overtime. Overtime is two 10 minute halves and is a sudden death style of play.
In the first overtime, there weren’t many scoring opportunities as neither team got a shot on goal.
In the second overtime, both teams exploded with energy pressing offensively, just four minutes in Marywood threatened to win the game on a breakaway.
A through pass from a Marywood player put Caitlin Kerkering in a one-on-one situation with Edwards.
Edwards instinctively came out and made a sliding stop far out from the net to save the game for Cavaliers.
With time winding down, Cabrini had two more scoring chances as Bree Thompson got an open look and took a shot on goal that was saved by Pezdirtz. With under two minutes to play, Scanzano fired the last shot of the game. Again, it was saved by Pezdirtz.
Both goalkeepers had amazing games as Edwards came up with clutch saves to keep the game tied, and Pezdirtz stopped 13 of 20 Cabrini shots.
“We’ve been through a bumpy road a little bit,” Edwards said, “We are working hard trying to figure out our formation, where we want to put people, but we feel really connected.”
