The strike pair of junior Marcella Ricupero and sophomore Jana Lee has scored so many clutch goals for the AU Women's Soccer team, it's almost getting redundant. But as long as the Eagles keep winning Patriot League matches, no one will be complaining.
Both helped save the day in a crucial 2-1 comeback win over PL foes Lehigh on homecoming Saturday at Reeves Field.
Ricupero scored the winner and ended the match eight minutes into the first overtime, one-timing a redirected corner kick. Junior defender Lena Winkler took the corner from the right, and found freshman midfielder Chevy Gillan, who flicked the ball on at the corner of the six-yard box. Ricupero, making a diagonal run, reached Gillan's flick on, and smashed the ball into the near-upper corner past Lehigh 'keeper Erin Iwaskiewicz.
"I really wanted to score in this game," Ricupero said. "In the first half, I had three one-on-one chances with the goalkeeper that she either saved or I missed. It was good to get at least one in the overtime."
Ricupero's winner came after Lee scored a poacher's goal, knocking home a pass from sophomore midfielder Meg Runeari that appeared to be deflected by a defender. Lee bodied her defender, turned, and fired home the game-tier in the 72nd minute.
The pair has combined for 18 goals on the year, with Ricupero scoring 12 of those. But no two goals have been bigger for the Eagles than these, which set the team back on the right track after a devastating 7-1 loss to nationally ranked Princeton in midweek.
"For team morale, this win was very important," Ricupero said afterward. "To lose 7-1 to Princeton and then lose this game would've been really hard to come back from."
It would've also changed the Eagles' post-season outlook. With the win, the Eagles (11-3-1, 4-1-0 PL) clinched a birth in the PL tournament. A loss would've left them with much more work to do in their final two conference matches.
Now the Eagles can think about maybe stealing the regular season title from Colgate, who is currently 4-0-1 in the league. And they hope maybe Lehigh can help them out.
"I thought we clearly played the better football and controlled the tempo," said AU head coach Michael Brady. "But they're only going to get better and better. I think they're a team that can beat Colgate."
If the Mountain Hawks even tie the Raiders, and the Eagles win their last two games, the Eagles would win the conference, and host the four-team league tournament.
And if the Mountain Hawks did anything on Saturday, it was proving that they were a team that, if not taken seriously, could beat anyone in the PL. And they certainly could've beaten the Eagles.
Lehigh took the lead in the 22nd minute, capitalizing on a poor defensive giveaway by the AU backline. Jocelyn Helwig broke free down the wing before sending a cross to Karilyn Anderson, who knocked it home from close range, putting Lehigh ahead against the run of play.
The Eagles continued to hoard most of the ball and the chances, but were turned away either by stellar goalkeeping or their own poor finishing. Perhaps the best sign for the Eagles, however, was that they never strayed from their game plan, until Lee's goal about 50 minutes later.
"It could've been real easy to give up and not play at the level we played at in the second half," Ricupero said. "But I think Jana's goal was really important to give the team even more motivation to fight for (the win)."
The Eagles will continue to fight for post-season position next Saturday in a home match against Bucknell, but first must travel to Baltimore to take on regional rival Loyola on Wednesday. They then close out their regular season at Army on Oct. 30, before playing in the PL tournament, hopefully at home.
