Garnet Women Earn 1-1 Tie With No. 23 Eastern in Lightning-Shortened Game
SWARTHMORE, Pa. - Freshman Aly Passanante's electrifying game-tying goal in the 82nd minute set up what looked like it would be a dramatic overtime conclusion to a hotly-contested battle between the Swarthmore College women's soccer team and No. 23 Eastern - only Mother Nature had different thoughts.
The Garnet (2-3-2) and Eagles (5-1-1) settled for a 1-1 tie on Wednesday night from Clothier Field Stadium, as the game was called due to lightning in the area with :50 seconds remaining in the first overtime period.
Allison Itch scored the only goal for the Eagles in the 65th minute.
Passanante's first career goal tied the game for the Garnet.
The battle between the two regional powers was back-and-forth all night, with each team coming away with plenty of scoring opportunities. Swarthmore almost got on the board immediately, as senior Laura Bolger's header in the first minute of play off a corner flew just barely above the crossbar. Then in the 19th minute, Passanante's first of many scoring chances sailed just right of the goal, keeping Swarthmore off the board. Combined with the stellar play of Marie Mutryn - who made several tough saves in difficult conditions - and the rest of the defense, the Garnet found themselves deadlocked with the nationally-ranked Eagles at the half.
In the second half, the Eagles began to take control of the possession and create more chances - eventually leading to Itch's goal in the 65th minute. Thanks to a great assist from defender Katie Ruth, the junior was able to break away from the Garnet defense on the left wing and lob a ball over the head of Mutryn to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
The score would remain 1-0 in favor of Eastern until Swarthmore finally capitalized on one its numerous scoring chances. With the seconds ticking away, Passanante collected a loose ball in the front of the Eastern net and blasted home the tying goal - the first of her Swarthmore career - into the bottom-right corner to make it a 1-1 game.
Not content with just one goal after getting a taste of scoring - Passanante nearly gave the Garnet a late lead on two great chances just minutes later. In the 85th minute, her close-range shot sailed just high of the goal, while nearly a minute later, she pushed a ball just wide of an open net on a Garnet attack. The game would remain deadlocked at 1-1 and head into overtime.
Mutyrn finished the game with six saves in net for Swarthmore, while Eastern's Alyisa Goodman had three saves.
The Garnet finished with a significant 18-10 advantage in shots for the game.
Along with Passanante, Megan Colombo gave the Eagles' defense problems all night, finishing with two shots on goal.
With the tie, Swarthmore is now 2-4-1 in the last three years against nationally-ranked opponents.
The Garnet return to Centennial Conference play this weekend with a trip to Baltimore to face defending Conference champion No. 7 Johns Hopkins. Action is slated to begin at 4:00 p.m.