University of Rhode Island

Rhode Island (3-4-3, 1-1-0 A10)
Starters: Eden (GK), Samalonis, Name, MacDonald, Rosenfeld, Poon, Camacho, Jacobs, White, Steinbach, O'Neill
Subs: Merkel, Houtz, Shannon

George Washington (3-4-3, 0-1-1 A10))
Starters: Gerber (GK), Stenning, Corne, Vigran, Broz, Kau, Donmoyer, Michel, McGrath, Bilal, Provost-Heron
Subs: Moss, Kim, Gronauer, Wickman, Ohlmann

Scoring Summary
23:27 - GW - Provost-Heron (unassisted)
27:07 - GW - Michel (unassisted)
44:58 - URI - MacDonald (unassisted)
64:31 - URI - MacDonald (Poon)
76:52 - URI - Poon (penalty kick)

How it Happened
Rhode Island rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat George Washington and get its first Atlantic 10 win of the season Thursday night. Lauren MacDonald scored the first two goals and then drew the penalty that led to Courtney Poon's game-winning penalty kick.

It didn't look good early for the Rams, as visiting George Washington had the edge for much of the first half. Ella Provost-Heron nearly put George Washington on the board in the 15th minute when a long pass ahead of the field set her up for a one-on-one breakaway with keeper Dani Eden. Despite an open net and no defensive pressure to contend with, her shot went wide of the post.

Provost-Heron made up for it in the 24th minute. She was able to convert a much more difficult chance, dribbling around defender Aida Name to gain the angle just inside the end line before slipping a low shot to the right of Eden for a 1-0 lead. Four minutes later, Sophia Michel extended the lead with a shot from the top right side of the box that sailed past Eden's diving save attempt.

Rhody nearly scored with less than six minutes to go in the half. A crossing pass found Courtney Poon alone in the box. She slid and got her left foot on the ball, but it glanced off the post to the right of keeper Marley Gerber and away from danger.

The play sparked the Rams a bit, and they broke through two seconds before halftime. Lauren MacDonald collected a pass well outside the box. She used four touches to get around the GW defense before launching a left-footed shot across her body with all her momentum going away from the net. The shot was deftly chipped over the head of Gerber and settled in the back of the net, cutting the deficit to 2-1.

It was MacDonald again in the 65th minute. Collecting a pass from Poon, MacDonald moved to her right from beyond the top of the box and launched a shot into the upper corner for her second goal of the night, tying the score for Rhode Island.

In the 77th minute, MacDonald had the ball in the box and fired on net. The shot went into the arm of a GW defender, and URI was awarded a penalty kick. Poon's shot nestled just inside the right post to beat the dive of Gerber, who got her fingers on the shot but could not stop it.  
 
Inside the Box Score

• Lauren MacDonald's first-half goal was the 20th of her career and first of the season.
• MacDonald is just the 10th player in program history to reach 20 career goals, and the first since Dora Jonsdottir finished with 22 in 2007.
• She is tied with Sarah Johnston (2003-07) for eighth in team history with 21 goals.
• Courtney Poon had her first goal of the season, as well as her second assist.
• The two assists leads the team.
• This was the first time this season Rhode Island scored multiple goals.
• Rhode Island outshot GW 19-5 and had a 10-4 edge in shots on goal.
• George Washington had just four shots on goal for the game.

Up Next
Rhode Island plays at La Salle on Sunday, Sept. 27 at 1 p.m. The match is scheduled to stream on ESPN+.