Bombers' Season Ends with Loss to Catholic
SWARTHMORE, Pa. – The nationally-ranked Ithaca College women's soccer team saw its season come to an end on Saturday night as the Bombers fell to Catholic University of America, 1-0, in the opening round of the 2015 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship on Clothier Field at Swarthmore College.
With the loss, Ithaca, which made its 13th consecutive appearance in the tournament and was ranked 19th nationally entering the contest, concludes its 2015 campaign at 13-5-2 while Catholic improves to 17-2-0 overall. The Cardinals will advance to Sunday's second round contest where they will face host Swarthmore College, which defeated St. Joseph's College, 5-2, in the day's other game.
Both teams looked evenly matched throughout the first half. Ithaca's best scoring opportunity came in the 40th minute when
Kelsey King taped a pass to
Megan Nash who snuck the ball past Catholic's goalie into the net, but the play was whistled dead as Ithaca was flagged for being offsides. Ithaca continued to pound the zone with King and
Holly Niemiec taking shots but Catholic answered the call, turning away each opportunity to keep the game scoreless.
Coming out of intermission, the Bombers looked to force the action, despite being a player down after receiving a red card in the 41st minute.
As the half wore on, neither team would give an inch as each swapped ends of the field. The game would remain scoreless until the 79th minute when Catholic worked its way deep into Ithaca territory and crossed a pass that was kicked into the far right corner to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
The Bombers looked to push the tempo, swarming the ball, but in the end, Ithaca was unable to find the back of the net as the Cardinals held on for the 1-0 win.
Beth Coppolecchia played all 90 minutes in net for Ithaca and made 11 saves overall.