Sept. 26, 2008

Box Score | Photo Gallery

KINGSTON, R.I. -- The University of Rhode Island women's soccer team dropped its 2008 Atlantic 10 opener this afternoon, 1-0, to Saint Joseph's at the URI Soccer Complex.

The loss snapped the Rams three-game win streak, which included three consecutive shutout victories.

Despite the rainy, windy conditions due to the incoming nor'easter, both the Rams (4-5-1, 0-1 A-10) and the Hawks (6-2, 1-0 A-10) battled through the 90 minutes, with each team having several scoring opportunities.

"I actually think we played pretty well today, we just needed to score a goal and not be comfortable until we did," said head coach Zac Shaw. "Saint Joseph's did a good job absorbing pressure and scored on basically their only chance, simply because they wanted to score more than we wanted to keep the ball out of our own goal."

"The weather was far from ideal, but that is what makes playing in a league interesting," Shaw added. "You have to play when the weather is good, bad and ugly and a win is worth a win no matter what it is like out."

SJU got on the scoreboard in the 19th minute (18:16). After Rhody was whistled for a foul, the Hawks' Allie Dowling entered a ball into the box off a free kick. Jen Pfeiffer was able to control and chip it past Rhody goalkeeper Jackie Fede, who came out of the box to make the play.

Rhody had several good opportunities late in the first half. Erese Fair put a shot on goal in the 36th minute, but SJU goalkeeper Cara Critchlow was able to make the save. Kassandra Spitler also had her attempt in the 37th minute thwarted.

Adrienne Ruhe Lischke, who had her three-game goal scoring streak and five-game scoring streak snapped this afternoon, had one of her four shots stopped in the 42nd minute, and the Rams entered the halftime intermission down, 1-0.

In the second half, Rhode Island kept up its offensive attack on the Hawks. Stephanie Santos sent a low, bouncing shot toward the lower right in the 67th minute, but it got too much of the post and skipped away.

"We had chances, we hit the post twice and had a ball cleared off the line, and I know that even at halftime there was a real sense that we were going to score and that it was just a matter of time," Shaw explained. "As a group, we have gotten too comfortable with the idea that we are better than the team we are playing and that is enough. If we are better, we need to prove it by scoring goals and by winning the game, otherwise it is just talk."

For the game, the Rams outshot the Hawks, 18-6 - including 10-2 in shots-on-goal. Jackie Fede stopped one shot, while her counterpart Cara Critchlow made nine saves. The Rams attempted six corner kicks, to four for SJU.

"I hope this loss will be a valuable lesson to us as we continue our first weekend in the A-10," Shaw said. "We need to play with a sense of urgency and take responsibility for our own sporting destiny. We need to stop waiting for someone else to step up and do it for us."

Rhode Island returns to action on Sunday, when it travels to Pittsburgh to take on Duquesne.