If AU's women's soccer team had one weakness Monday, it was set-play defense. Against Towson, that problem came to agonizing light.
Towson scored two goals, one off a corner kick and one off a free kick, to beat AU in overtime, 2-1, at Reeves Field.
Towson scored the game-winner off an Alison Reinhart free kick that got through the box and AU's 'keeper in the 106th minute.
Until that goal, neither team looked much like scoring the winner in that second overtime. The loss drops the Eagles to 3-7 overall and 1-3 at home.
"It was really frustrating because we know we are a good team," said freshman Lauren Esposito, who scored AU's only goal.
While the final score might indicate a close game, the Eagles dominated, especially in the first half.
Towson didn't even get a shot on goal until the second half. Yet for all the pressure on Towson, the Eagles still played sloppily. Mental mistakes and miscommunicating on both ends of the field resulted in another quiet day for the offense.
The Eagles had a flurry of good chances in the first half, including a ball off a Katlyn Miller shot that Towson's goalie mishandled. Unfortunately for the Eagles no one was there to pounce on the rebound. At the end of the first half, AU had outshot the Tigers, 6-0, but had nothing to show for it.
As the second half started, the game picked up in intensity and physicality. Despite that trend, which usually works against AU's quick passing game, AU scored first when Esposito headed in a Lindsey Miller cross ten minutes into the second half.
After that goal, the Tigers began driving the ball into AU's zone. It wasn't that AU stopped pressuring, but perhaps the Tigers simply began figuring it out.
"I think in both halves we pressured well, maybe even better in the second," Esposito said. "(But) I think we are just trying to find our best formation and seeing where players fit right now so this is why we are a different team half to half, game to game."
Towson tied it in regulation on a corner kick deflected in by AU goalie Kelsey Wiggins.
AU had one last chance to win the game in the closing seconds of regulation. Juniors Christina Gonzalez and Meg Runeari linked up to find a streaking Esposito, who booted it just wide left of the goal as the half closed.
In overtime it was more back and forth between the two teams, as both had good chances. The rain that had started earlier in the game intensified, as did the in-game atmosphere.
In the first overtime AU's best chance to win came from a shot by sophomore Annette Scott, but the ball hit the post.
While the loss meant AU's struggles continue, they can perhaps take comfort in the league play, which is looming in next weekend's agenda.
"I would rather get through these loses now and pull it together by the time [the Patriot League] starts," Esposito said.
The cance to "pull it together" begins Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Reeves Field against defending PL champion Navy.
