FINAL: La Salle 2, VCU 1 (Richmond, Va. – Sports Backers Stadium)
VCU STARTERS: #89 Carden (GK), #7 Kunz, #8 Conrad, #9 Granados, #12 Edgcomb, #13 Haislip, #15 Moore, #20 Acosta, #23 Hovanesian, #32 Boyer, #33 Johansen
LA SALLE STARTERS: #1 Pakhtigian (GK), #3 Niemiec, #6 Chilcoat, #9 McVicker, #12 Cammarata, #15 Haycook, #16 Kagan, #21 Allen, #23 Gray, #25 Brennan, #29 Komarnicki
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Each team had a pair of shots on goal in the first 15 minutes of the match. Junior Courtney Conrad had two long strikes for VCU (7-4-3, 2-2-0 A-10) but La Salle goalkeeper Gabrielle Pakhtigian made stops on both attempts.
- Sophomore Cristin Granados created a chance in the 16th minute when she sent a cross to the middle of the box. Sophomore Maren Johansen got her head on the ball but it sailed just wide of the near post.
- Conrad fired a point blank strike again from the left side of the goal box seven minutes later but Pakhtigian came up with her third save of the day.
- VCU eventually took a 1-0 lead in the 48th minute when senior Heather Hovanesian sent a pass from the right wing to senior Wendy Acosta in front of the goal box. Acosta turned and slid a shot past Pakhtigian to the far post to put the Rams ahead.
- La Salle (10-3-0, 4-0-0) had a look seven minutes later off a corner kick but Courtney Niemiec's shot from outside the box drifted high.
- VCU created another chance in the 59th minute when junior Brianne Moore sent a pass to Acosta on the left wing. Acosta then crossed to Conrad in front of the net but her one-timer went just high of the crossbar.
- Senior goalkeeper Kristin Carden made a nice snag near the far post on a shot from Kelsey Haycook in the 62nd minute. She came up with another stop off a free kick from Maryam Huseini four minutes later.
- Renee Washington launched a long shot from about 25 yards out in the 73rd minute but Carden made her fifth save of the match to keep the Explorers off the board.
- La Salle eventually scored the equalizer in the 77th minute. Carden came up with a save on a shot by Jessika Kagan but Ashley Chilcoat punched in the rebound to knot the game at 1-1.
- Anna Dolhansky then took a long feed from Huseini and placed a perfect ball in the far post from the right wing to give the Explorers a 2-1 lead five minutes later.
- After a Granados cross with just over a minute to play in regulation, Hovanesian sent a header toward the net but Pakhtigian made a snag to keep the Explorers on top.
- Conrad then launched a shot from 25 yards out as time expired but couldn't find the net.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:
- VCU suffered its first home loss since Aug. 28, 2011, which was a stretch of 11 straight matches.
- Acosta scored a goal for the third straight game and fourth in her last five outings.
- Conrad fired a game-high five shots (two on goal), while seven different players collected a shot for the Rams.
- Carden finished with seven saves in the net.
