Moon Township, Pa. / North Athletic Complex?The Robert Morris University women's soccer team watched two two-goal leads disappear in a 4-3 double-overtime loss in its Northeast Conference opener against Quinnipiac Friday afternoon at North Athletic Complex.
Robert Morris (4-6-0, 0-1-0 NEC) freshman Jess Sharik (North Huntington, Pa. / Norwin) had a goal and two assists for Robert Morris. It was another freshman ? Quinnipiac's Furtuna Velaj ? who stole the show, however. Velaj finished with three goals, all coming after the 80th minute to lift the Bobcats (5-2-0, 1-0-0 NEC) to victory.
Valej tallied her third goal of the game and the gamewinner in the 107th minute. The forward corralled a long pass from Meagan McLoughlin and touched into open space on top of the 18-yard box. Valej's right footed blast worked from left-to-right and around RMU senior goalkeeper Caitlin Dilal (Rochester, N.Y. / Our Lady of Mercy).
The Colonials put on early pressure, generating three chances in the first eight minutes. Junior Daneen Stevenato (North York, Ontario / Newtonbrook) had a shot from 18 yards that Quinnipiac goalkeeper Jillian Kelley stopped. Then Sharik had her first chance, her shot from 16 yards deflected outside the left post by Kelley.
Just 30 seconds later, Sharik had another chance and capitalized. In what looked to be a harmless position, Sharik took a shot from 25 yards out and near the left sideline. Her hard, high shot worked its way from left-to-right, finding the upper right corner of the net for her third of the season.
RMU stretched the margin to 2-0 off of a corner kick in the 16th minute. Sharik played an out-swinger that senior Jessica Weary (Enola, Pa. / East Pennsboro) headed down toward net. Stevenato was the first to find the header and hit a quick shot past Kelley.
Quinnipiac cut the lead in half with just under five minutes left in the first half. Amber Sidoti carried the ball out of the right corner and then hit a left-footed shot in to the far side netting to make it a 2-1 contest heading into the half.
Junior Chelsea Miazgowicz (Crescent Township, Pa. / Moon) scored her first goal of the season with a header in the 55th minute. Sharik played a corner kick to the short side of the six-yard box. Miazgowicz beat everybody to the ball, depositing her header inside the near post.
The Bobcats started their comeback with 10 minutes left in the second half. Valej ran onto a through ball from Susan Donovan and squeezed a close shot from the left side just inside the near post to cut the margin to 3-2 with 9:56 left. Valej knotted the game just 1:16 later, taking a right footed shot from 30 yards out that got over Dilal, tying the contest.
Quinnipiac had a 23-15 edge in shots and a 12-6 advantage in corner kicks. Dilal finished with seven saves while Kelley stopped six shots.
The Colonials played their second match of a three-game homestand when they host Central Connecticut State in a Noon game, Sunday, October 5, at North Athletic Complex.
