Leslie Kallberg capped a furious rally by the Ducks with her third career goal as Stevens upset No. 5 Western Connecticut. |
HOBOKEN, N.J. (October 25, 2006) – Trailing 2-0 less than 16 minutes into the game against the fifth-ranked team in the nation, the Stevens Institute of Technology women’s soccer team rebounded for one of the biggest wins in program history as the Ducks scored three times in the span of 10:04 to stun Western Connecticut State University, 3-2, on Wednesday evening at the De Baun Athletic Complex in Hoboken, N.J. In the process, the Colonials (16-1-1) suffered their first loss of the season after they entered the game ranked No. 5 in the nation by the NSCAA and No. 6 by D3Kicks.com.
“It was an outstanding performance against one of the top teams in the country,” head coach Jeff Parker (San Antonio, Texas) said. “For the squad to find a way back into the match was truly top-class. Western Connecticut is a well-coached squad that is one of the top ones we are able to face. It was great to see the reaction of our student-athletes as they responded to adversity of being down 2-0. We always tell our team that great attacking will beat great defending, and the two teams saw five great goals tonight.”
With the win, Stevens ran its unbeaten streak to 12 straight games (11-0-1) and improved to 12-2-3 overall. The Ducks also extended their home unbeaten streak to 24 consecutive matches, which is the 15th-longest streak in NCAA history. In addition, Stevens has now won 15 non-conference games in a row at home.
Western Connecticut, which had out-scored its opponents 71-5 in the first 17 games of the season, jumped on top 11:20 into the game as junior forward Kim Crayco (Bolton, Conn.) found sophomore forward Catherine Nathans (North Fairfield, Conn.) on a two-on-one break. After receiving the ball in the middle of the field, Nathans beat Ducks’ senior goalkeeper Erica Midttveit (Jackson, N.J.) for her team-leading 19th goal of the year.
Just over three minutes later, the Colonials continued to apply pressure as sophomore midfielder Amy Corchard (Monroe, Conn.) headed the ball off the crossbar on a corner kick. Soon after, senior midfielder Calie Carter (Lebanon, N.H.) ripped a shot from 20 yards out on the right wing that sailed past Midttveit and into the upper left corner of the net for a two-goal lead.
Stevens began its comeback as junior forward/back Sara Roeder (Portland, Ore.) slid a great lead pass to senior midfielder/forward Megan Legendre (O’Fallon, Ill.), who scored on a breakaway to bring the Ducks to within 2-1 at the 22:32 mark. Western Connecticut, which is ranked No. 1 in the New England Region, nearly extended its lead to 3-1, but Midttveit came up with a great lunging save on a long shot by Corchard with 17 minutes remaining in the opening half.
The Ducks tied the game with 13:29 left in the period as Roeder found sophomore midfielder Audra Clark (Dallas, Texas), who headed home her second goal of the season off a corner kick. With the momentum clearly on its side, Stevens scored 65 seconds after Clark’s goal as sophomore back Salme Cook (Fairfax, Va.) sent a lead pass down the left wing to freshman midfielder Alicia Vandersluis (Colorado Springs, Colo.). After some fancy dribbling, Vandersluis lined a low hard shot that senior goalkeeper Jenna Cappellieri (Stratford, Conn.) made a diving save on. Freshman midfielder Leslie Kallberg (Mission Viejo, Calif.) jumped on the rebound and blasted a shot to the top netting to give the Ducks the lead.
With Stevens nursing a 3-2 advantage in the second half, Midttveit came up huge in net on several occasions. First, she made a beautiful diving save off a shot by Crayco with 34 minutes remaining. After glancing off Midttveit’s fingertips, Crayco’s shot hit the right post and caromed across the goal mouth before it was cleared by the Ducks’ defense. Four minutes later, Western Connecticut had a chance, but Midttveit punched a shot by senior midfielder Jessica Gomes (Wallingford, Conn.) over the net.
Stevens had a legitimate chance to put the game out of reach with less than 20 minutes to play as Roeder blasted a shot from 20 yards out on the left wing that rolled just outside the left post.
Midttveit earned her 11th win of the season as she made six saves. Cappellieri had seven stops for the Colonials. The Ducks out-shot Western Connecticut 17-10 in the game. Stevens also owned a 6-4 advantage in corner kicks.
The Ducks will close out the regular season on Saturday when they host Centenary College at 1 p.m. That game will be Senior Day for Stevens.
