Grand Rapids, Mich. – It was a tale of two halves for the Aquinas College women's soccer team on Saturday afternoon. An impressive start in the first 45 minutes gave way to a nearly disastrous second half before surviving to earn a wild 4-3 Homecoming victory over Cleary University. It was the WHAC opener for both teams as Aquinas evened its overall record at 3-3.
Aquinas 4, Cleary 3
It appeared as if Aquinas' Homecoming match against Cleary was going to be relatively stress-free after an early offensive onslaught.
Playing in front of a large contingent of students, alumni, family, friends and the victorious men's soccer team, the Saints came out energized and loose.
Aquinas blitzed the visiting Cougars with a pair of goals in the first five minutes of play.
Senior Julia Grzadkowska opened the scoring with an unassisted goal in the 2nd minute after a defensive miscue by Cleary goalkeeper Sara Mecomber led to an easy boot into the open net.
The Saints added to their lead shortly after when junior Bella Teelander buried a shot from the wing. Reegyn Cady was credited with the assist on the play.
Aquinas wasn't done, as two other Aquinas players joined the fun with their first goals of the season.
In the 14th minute, a foul by Cleary resulted in a penalty kick. Senior Aubrey Phenicie calmly put it away to make it 3-0.
Cady, a junior, extended the lead to 4-0 with a goal in the 22nd minute off a pass from senior Maeve Comfort.
The Saints took that seemingly comfortable 4-0 lead into halftime, but Cleary came out motivated in the second half as it put together a stirring rally.
In a span of 12 minutes, beginning with a goal by leading scorer Evalyn Cole in the 46th minute, the Cougars tallied three unanswered goals with plenty of time remaining.
Although rattled from the scoring flurry, Aquinas kept its composure and played stout defense the remaining 32 minutes.
The Saints began controlling possession and prevented the Cougars from tying the match.
Despite the tense moments, it was a win, and their first conference win. And that's all that matters in the end.
Aquinas now has its first winning streak of the season after beating Indiana Northwest earlier in the week.
Inside the Numbers
- The Saints registered a season-high in shots with 20, including 12 shots on goal.
- Aquinas goalkeeper Claire Fogarty played 90 minutes in net and made four saves.
- Nine different Saints had at least one shot on goal.
- Aquinas' four first-half goals were a season-high.
- The Saints recorded double-digit fouls for the second straight game and finished with 12 compared to seven for Cleary.
Coach's Comments
Head Coach Mario Zuniga-Gil: "I was very proud with how we started. That's what we wanted for Homecoming, and it was unbelievable to start with that energy. We put our chances away, which is something we've been working on, and I think these last two games have been really good for that. Everything went the way we wanted in the first half, and honestly, I don't think the second half was necessarily things we did wrong, it was more of a disconnection. But we bounced back in the hardest moment when it was 4-3 and went back to dominating the game and got it done."
Up Next
The Saints (3-3, 1-0 WHAC) return to WHAC play on Wednesday when they host Rochester Christian at 7 p.m. Be sure to visit AQSaints.com for live statistics and complete postgame coverage of Aquinas women's soccer and all other Saints sports.
NOTE: Dean Holzwarth, serving as the Senior AQSaints Athletics Reporter & Content Specialist for AQSaints.com, brings decades of journalistic precision and storytelling flair to the Saints' media efforts. He's covered high school sports for 11 years at Grand Rapids–based WOOD-TV, following a 16-year tenure in sports reporting with the Grand Rapids Press and MLive. He also writes monthly high school features for the MHSAA website. His deep experience in capturing the heartbeat of local athletics now fuels his engaging coverage of Aquinas College sports.
