No. 23 Garnet Strike Twice in Second Half, Defeat Ursinus 2-0
SWARTHMORE, Pa. - Home sweet home.
After 22 days without a home game at the friendly confines of Clothier Field, the No. 23 Swarthmore College women's soccer team (11-3, 5-2) finally returned back to campus and picked up an important conference victory, getting second-half goals from junior Kelsey Cline and sophomore Emily Coleman to defeat visiting Ursinus College 2-0 on Wednesday evening from Clothier Field Stadium.
Sophomore goalkeeper Marie Mutryn made six saves to earn her seventh shutout of the season, while the Garnet backline - anchored by junior Laura Bolger and senior Eileen Earl - limited the Bears to very few scoring chances.
Senior Eileen Earl and the Swat defense held Ursinus without a goal.
A tight game throughout the first half, the Garnet found an extra spark from its bench, as reserves Cline and Coleman both found the back of the net in the second half.
Just three minutes into the second half, Cline took a deflecting ball off a set-piece kick from Liz Mills, turned to her right past an Ursinus defender and struck the ball to the near corner, scoring her third goal of the season to give Swat the 1-0 lead.
The Garnet offense - which really seemed to tire the Bear defense by the end of the second half - would strike once again in the 73rd minute to put the crucial game out of reach.
Junior Hannah Purkey got the attack started in the midfield, stealing the ball off an Ursinus player and passing off to sophomore Hannah Deming on the left wing. From there, Deming blasted a beautiful aerial cross to the front of the box, where Coleman was waiting to one-time the ball into the goal, giving Swarthmore the commanding 2-0 lead.
Swarthmore finished with a 19-6 edge in shots and 11-6 in shots on goal.
The Garnet return to action on Saturday when it travels to Gettysburg. Action is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m.