Lady Bison come up short in OT
Friday night, the lady Bison soccer team took on Wagner College in a non-conference showdown at William H. Greene Stadium. After getting their first win of the season against the Virginia Military Institute, the lady Bison came into the dual against the undefeated Wagner team with a 1-1-1 record and four injuries to their roster.
Immediately, Howard felt the impact of the Wagner offensive front, as they penetrated Howard’s goal several times before finally scoring in the ninth minute of the first half. Despite the slow start for Howard, the team was able to stay close in large part due to the incredible play of Bison goalkeeper Kyra Dickinson, who had 11 saves in the game.
In the 20th minute of the first half, Howard was finally able to find a crease in Wagner’s defense as junior midfielder Nia Walcott broke away from the pack and was able to tap the ball to freshman forward Zion Clarke, who kicked it in for the goal.
The teams went into the half tied at one, but not before freshman forward Jaelin Etierre White suffered a crushing knee injury on the far right sideline.
In the second half, the injury bug struck again as two Howard midfielders went down. Running so low on players, the team was forced to call in backup goalkeeper Natasha Moore to play midfield. Despite the numerous injuries, Howard continued to run the field toe to toe with their opponents.
In the 20th minute of the second half, Howard came within inches of scoring off of a corner kick from Walcott, but was just barely denied by the Wagner goalkeeper. In the 25th minute Wagner was able to score a goal of their own off of an assist from the left corner making the score 2-1 Wagner.
With just three minutes left in the game, Walcott lined up to kick another corner kick. This time, the lady Bison would convert as freshman forward Elaina Ringo was able to boot the ball in off of a deflection from her teammate.
Howard and Wagner entered a first-team-to-score overtime period, however, Wagner was clearly the fresher team as they kept control of the ball for the majority of the 10 minute period. After three saves from Dickinson, Wagner was finally able to score off of a corner kick which was headed in by a Wagner forward in the final minute of overtime, making for a very tough 2-3 loss for Howard.
Assistant Coach Barney Joseph was disappointed with the result, but pleased with his players’ effort.
“The whole entire coaching staff is proud of the way the girls played tonight,” he said. “Unfortunately, we came out on the wrong side of this one.”