It was a game of two halves for the Case Western Reserve University Spartans and the Rochester Yellowjackets on Saturday night at Fauver Stadium, as the 'Jackets battled back from a 1-0 deficit in the first half to win, 2-1, off a two-goal surge in a five minute span in the second half.
The game, the Yellowjackets' Senior Night, gave UR a 3-2-2 University Athletic Association record (11-4-3 overall) to close out its regular season. This was also the final regular season game for long-time UR coach Terry Gurnett, who will be retiring at the end of this season.
The game winner for UR came in the 57th minute, when a Rochester corner was settled by senior midfielder Marissa Braverman and tapped to freshman midfielder Kathryn Rowe, who turned and blasted a shot into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal past Spartan goalie Anna Kennedy. It was Rowe's second goal of the season.
But while UR got the win, Case outshot the Yellowjackets, 13-10. Most of those shots, however, came in the first half.
Case Western got on the board first less than 10 minutes into the game. The ball was played in front of the Rochester goal and a UR defender's attempt to clear the ball out of the box hit Spartan forward Deena Levey. The ensuing ricochet went into the right hand corner of the goal, past a diving Bridget Lang at the 9:32 mark to give Case an early lead.
The Spartans had a couple opportunities to extend their lead throughout the first half, including a shot on the right side of the pitch from Rachel Bourque in the 25th minute. The sailing shot would have crept in on the near post, but Lang was there to prevent a goal. With 45 seconds left in the half, another shot by Levey, again from the right side, went just over the Rochester crossbar.
UR's first shot didn't come until 17 minutes into the game, when midfielder Elizabeth Martens blasted a ball toward the near post from the right side of the box that almost snuck past Case Western goalie Anna Kennedy. By the end of the first 45 minutes, that was the Yellowjackets' only shot. Case, meanwhile, had eight.
Scoring opportunities were not nearly as hard to come by in the second for the 'Jackets, as they peppered the Spartans with nine shots.
Rochester evened the score not long into the second, when Ellen Coleman drove down the left sideline in the 53rd minute and was tackled by Rebecca Vaughan on the left side of the box and called for a foul, resulting in a penalty kick. Coleman slid the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal – her team-best 15th goal of the season – tying the game at one.
Only less than five minutes later, Coleman almost scored her second of the night when she blasted a shot from the left side of the box that hit off the opposite goal post and was sent out of bounds, setting up a UR corner kick. After the ball was sent into the box, Bridgette Varin had an attempt to give UR the lead, but her shot was blocked wide.
It didn't take long for UR to finish mounting its comeback, however. Rowe's goal came off the ensuing corner resulting off Varin's blocked shot.
Case didn't let up in the second, but UR's defense held on. The Spartan's best chance came just six minutes into the half, when Deena Levey got free of the UR defense and took a shot from six yards out that was met by a diving Lang. The ball went right back to Levey, though, but before she could get a shot off, senior defender Meagan Magee cleared the ball out of the box.
Lang came out to cover up a number of passes played ahead for Case's forwards Leah and Deena Levey. Lang finishes the regular season averaging just one goal per game. Magee anchored the Yellowjacket defense's stand, blocking three shots in the second half to keep Case's goal total at one.
The Yellowjackets will learn if they are postseason bound on Monday during the NCAA's selection show at 9 a.m.
