DePaul University
Louisville
DePaul Falters Late in Loss to Louisville
9/24/2010 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S SOCCER
Sept. 24, 2010
CHICAGO - In the span of 5 minutes and 29 seconds, DePaul's soccer world was turned upside down.
Riding high with a one-goal lead over nationally ranked Louisville, the Blue Demons let their guard down in a tough 2-1 BIG EAST Conference loss Friday.
Arianna Foster had brought the Wish Field at Cacciatore Stadium crowd to its feet in the 62nd minute with her first goal of the season.
"I've had a lot of opportunities, and I finally scored," said Foster, who has eight shots on goal this season.
"Tara Strickland set me up. I made a run, caught the ball with my foot, turned and shot it right past the goalie. I was all alone, less than 10 yards in front of the goal.
"All I could think was---finally. I was pretty happy and excited."
Imagine the joyride Foster would've taken had that been the game-winning goal.
"Our team played soft after we scored," Foster said. "We can't think that was it after we score.
"That's why we played soft and lost focus. We thought we had it won."
Instead, No. 24/18 Louisville (8-1-0, 2-0-0 in the BIG EAST) took advantage of mental lapses by the Blue Demons.
In the 77th minute, the Cardinals' Jennifer Jones hit a shot off the crossbar. Moments later, Shannon Leamy knocked in the rebound.
In the 88th minute, DePaul goalkeeper Claire Hanold and defender Rebekah Roller had a mix-up in defensive coverage that allowed Julie Casselman to tap in the winning goal.
"This was a tough one to swallow," said DePaul coach Erin Chastain. "That second goal resulted from a miscommunication between our goalkeeper and defender.
"It was a bad, soft goal.
"We need to take care of business in the attacking third. We had plenty of chances to go up 2-0. Instead, we let in two very soft goals."
The Blue Demons could only convert one of their 10 shots on goal.
They kept firing, right to the end when Ashleigh Goddard had a point-blank opportunity that turned into Louisville goalie Taylor Vancil's ninth save.
DePaul (5-4-2, 0-2-0) will look to notch its first BIG EAST win on Sunday when they hit the road to face Cincinnati.
NOTES: Strickland's assist was the 15th of her career, tying her for second all-time with Jennifer Dyer (2004-07... the all-time leader is Julianne Sitch with 26 assists... the point gave Strickland a career total of 39, tying her with Dyer for fourth all-time... Lea Hill (2003-06) is third with 40 points and Lauren Spacht (2003-06) is second with 41... DePaul outshot Louisville 18-7 and had 10 shots on goal to six for the Cardinals... the Blue Demons also had a commanding 7=2 edge in corner kicks... Foster made her first start in five games and led the team in shots with five and tied for the team-high in shots on goal with three... freshman Goddard made her first collegiate start and responded with three shots---all on goal... Michelle Scandora and Lauren Pagone also took three shots and each had one on goal... DePaul has yet to string back-to-back wins together this season.
