CUA drops 2-1 match on the road at Drew

MADISON, N.J. – The Cardinals dropped a tough 2-1 decision to Drew on the road on Saturday afternoon in Landmark Conference action.  CUA fell behind 1-0 before Carolyn Girandola tied the match, but Drew scored in the 58th minute to earn the win.

CUA was credited with ten shots for the match, while the Rangers totaled seven, and Drew was awarded seven corner kicks to the Cardinals two.  Amanda Cowan played all 90 minutes in goal for CUA and sent back one shot, while Drew keeper Kim Jaikisson stopped four shots.

“We played alright in stretches today,” CUA head coach JP Sousa said afterwards.  “I thought we moved the ball well at times, but we weren’t consistently winning the 50-50 balls and just didn’t do enough overall to get the win.”

He added, “It was a typical back-and-forth game, which we knew it would be.  I thought we were up to the challenge of playing on their Astroturf, and we battled back, which was good, but this is still a tough result.”

In the early going CUA was awarded a corner kick and after the ball was sent in, Lauren Cadott took two shots, one of which was saved and the other went wide.

Drew’s first shot came at the 12:05 mark by Katie O’Keefe but it sailed wide.  A Caitlin Brett shot at the 33:50 mark for CUA was stopped by Jaikisson and the score remained knotted at zero.

The Rangers got on the board first when O’Keefe beat Cowan with a shot from the left side that found the right corner of the goal at the 34:50 mark.  CUA kept battling though and near the end of the half the Cardinals tied things at one on Girandola’s score at the 44:15 mark.  Brett assisted on the score with a great pass and that sent the teams into halftime knotted at one.

“We had a number of great passes leading up to the goal,” Sousa said.  “We really moved the ball well and Carolyn made a great play; we were feeling good after that score.”

As the second half began, Drew controlled the early action with three corner kicks and four shots in the first 12 minutes.  At the 57:07 mark, Courtney Carnevale scored following a wild scrum in front of the net to put the Rangers on top 2-1. 

Despite being down, CUA still had plenty of time to get the equalizer.  Brett’s shot at the 72:46 mark was saved by Jaikisson though, and the Cardinals were only able to get off two more shots, both of which were stopped.

CUA has one regular season match remaining, which will take place on Saturday, October 30 when the Cardinals travel to Bethlehem, Pa., to take on the Moravian Greyhounds.  Match time is scheduled for 12:30.

“We now need to focus all our energy into this next game,” Sousa said.  “We still have a chance (to make the conference tournament), so we have to be ready to give all we have.”