Providence Rebounds in Victory over UMass

After experiencing a slight bump in the road, the Providence College Women's Soccer Team seems to be back on track. The Friars suffered only their second loss of the season Friday, Sept. 19, against UConn in an evenly-matched battle, but recovered to beat non-conference foe UMass on Sunday, Sept. 21.

The Friars capitalized on their home field advantage Sunday after playing on the road against UConn. The Providence offense notched 11 shots on the Minuteman goal in the first period alone, three of which belonged to Friars junior Jill Camburn. Camburn drove to the goal, but was met by Minuteman goalkeeper Lauren Luckey. Not willing to concede victory, Camburn fought to regain possession and did so clear of Luckey, which gave her a chance for an unassisted goal.

Camburn leads Providence with seven shots on the opponent goal this season, and is tied for second on the team in goals scored with two, behind junior Tara Ricciardi and freshman Courtney Collins, who each have three.

Camburn's goal was the game winner, but the Friars spent the remainder of the contest looking to add insurance. Nine different Friars registered shots on the UMass goal for a total of 17 on the day. Providence outshot UMass 17-7.

Sophomore goalkeeper Jill Schott made four saves en route to earning her third shutout of the season. Schott's play has added a solid sheet of iron to an already potent Friar defense, which defended against seven UMass corner kicks and 12 UConn cornerkicks last week alone. Not one of those corner kicks was converted to a score.

The Friars prevailed over the Minutemen 1-0 and in doing so improved to 5-2-0 (0-1 Big East). The first conference loss for the Friars came against the Huskies in Storrs, Conn., but the 1-0 box score does not do justice to the intensity evident in each Providence Friar as the clock wound down and it became evident that their first Big East win was not in the cards as of yet.

Certainly, the opportunities were there, and Providence dominated much of the first period by penetrating into Husky territory. In the ninth minute, Camburn set up Collins with a pass in good position, but Collins' shot was high and missed the Husky goal. Not long after that, Collins rocketed a pass to Ricciardi, but she was also unable to find the space between the poles. Sophomore Kylie Ricker nearly deflected a pass from junior Caitlin Hostetler into the Husky goal, but the deflection could not escape the recovery of UConn goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe.

Schott kept the Huskies at bay for the entire first period, and made some stellar saves in the second for a total of 10 on the day.

As the second period neared its conclusion and the contest remained stalemated, the Friars pushed deeper into Husky territory and nearly took the lead off of slightly wide shots by sophomore Kate DelCiampo and freshman Taylor Bartini.

The Huskies got on the board in the 86th minute when Schott was unable to get in front of a tough shot, which proved to be the game winner for UConn.

The Friars return to their conference slate on Thursday, Sept. 25 against Marqette at Glay Field They will then hit the road for a five game road trip that will surely demonstrate thE determination and commitment which have sustained them thus far.