VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. --- No. 4 Virginia Wesleyan College and No. 5 Bridgewater College battled to a repeat performance of this past Saturday with the Marlin women's soccer team prevailing 2-1 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) quarterfinals.
Both teams struggled to gain an advantage early in the first half as a consistent rain in Virginia Beach leading up to Wednesday made the field sloppier than usual.
Similar to the matchup four days ago, Bridgewater struck first in the match. Julia Baca had the ball outside the box on the right side and cross it in front of the goal mouth where it was finished off by Michelle Viegas.
The Marlins did not wait until the second half to tie up the contest as Kaitlyn Clunanchased a ball up the pitch into the defensive end. The goalie attempted a clear but the ball deflected off a defender where Clunan was able to corral it. The senior raced around the keeper and chipped it into the wide open net to tie the contest at the 24:14 mark.
Virginia Wesleyan took the lead in the 68th minute when Miranda Rupp scored from 20 yards out for her second goal of the season.
Bridgewater continued to press the remaining 22 minutes, looking for the equalizer. The Eagles attempted three shots the remainder of the way, two blocked and one saved by Megan Gerhart, while also drawing three corner kicks.
Bridgewater (9-8-1) led in shots, 15-10, and corner kicks, 9-2, but could not take advantage of those opportunities.
Gerhart made four saves for VWC while Hayley Talbott stopped three balls for the Eagles.
No. 4 Virginia Wesleyan (11-9) will travel to No. 1 Lynchburg College Saturday for an ODAC semifinal. The Marlins fell to the Hornets 1-0 in the regular season despite a strong defensive effort.
--- This release is courtesy of the Virginia Wesleyan College sports information department. ---
www.vwcathletics.com