CLEVELAND, OH – Behind a pair of goals forwards Claire Grover and Natalie Santangelo, University of Rochester women's soccer defeated the 14th-ranked Case Western Reserve University Spartans, 2-0, on Saturday morning at DiSanto Field.
 
The win, Rochester's first University Athletic Association (UAA) road win of the year, moves the 'Jackets to 9-2-2 overall 2-1 in conference play, while dropping CWRU to 7-2-4 (0-2-1 UAA).
 
After Case Western Reserve's Molly Shamah came up with the first shot attempt of the contest, the 'Jackets earned the first of two corners in the 18th minute. Santagelo sent it in off the corner, and while Riya Kunderan put a shot on goal, CWRU's Maggie Storti, made her first of two saves on the afternoon.
 
Grace Kuropatkin would step up to make her first of five stops in the 22nd minute, with the Spartans taking one of their eight corners in the match. Off the CWRU corner, Jamie Goldfarb headed it towards the right post, but UR's senior keeper was there to make the save.
 
Then in the 25th minute, Rochester again put a couple of dangerous balls into the box off Sydney Holmes' corner, but Santangelo's 26th-minute attempt clanged off the crossbar, while less than a minute later after the first-year weaved through a pair of Spartan defenders, Santangelo just missed wide right.
 
Santangelo wouldn't miss on her next attempt though, just shy of the 33rd-minute mark of the first to give Rochester a 1-0 lead.
 
After the Spartans' cleared Claudia Ferriera's free-kick attempt, the 'Jackets won the ball back after a CWRU throw-in and passed it around their back line. Emma Cohen settled it and passed a tremendous ball through the air to Santangelo, who corralled it onsides and ahead of the Spartans' defense. The first-year then dribbled towards goal and curled her right-footed shot over the outstretched arm of Storti and into the upper-left corner of the net to give UR a 1-0 lead.
 
The Yellowjackets fended off another corner before heading into the locker room up a score, and quickly doubled their lead just over seven minutes into the second.
 
First though, Kuropatkin made a diving save on a long-range shot from Julia Flynn to keep UR up by one. And then on a free kick from just shy of midfield, Cohen again passed it ahead to an onsides Grover, who beat Storti to the ball and headed it over the CWRU's keeper's head and into the back of the net to double the Yellowjackets lead.
 
Down 2-0 with a little over 37 minutes to play, Case Western Reserve went on the offensive, outshooting Rochester, 13-2 in the second half and holding UR to just one shot the rest of the way.
 
But the 'Jackets' defense would prove up to the task, fending off all 13 of the Spartans' second-half shots, with Kuropatkin notching a trio of saves. Flynn, Goldfarb and Abby Welker combined to send four shots wide of the mark over the next 15 minutes, before the Spartans threatened again in the 77th minute.
 
After Sydney Holmes nearly made it 3-0 with a curled shot that went just high, Kuropatkin stopped Flynn's left-footed attempt from the left side. Then on a CWRU corner at the 77:50 mark, Kinzly Gootman knocked another shot high.
 
Kuropatkin would be called upon to make two more saves down the stretch, a jumping attempt on Welker's 80th-minute shot, as well as a diving stop to her right on Sydney Schenk's dribbler a little over a minute later, but the senior was up for the task on both, keeping the sheet clean with less than 10 minutes left.
 
With less than three minutes left, Rochester's defense fended off a trio of corners to keep the shutout, and finish off the 2-0 victory, with final shots from Ceci Dapino blocked and going wide.
 
Offensively, Santangelo led UR with three shots, scoring the game-winning goal in the 33rd minute, while Grover notched her fifth goal of the year off Cohen's assist in the 53rd minute.
 
In goal, Kuropatkin played just over 85 minutes and made five saves, with Marla Radikas finishing off the shutout, playing the final 4:37.
 
Despite being outshot, 16-9, and yielding eight corners, the Yellowjackets came up with the only two scores of the contest, shutting out the Spartans in Cleveland for the first time since 2017.
 
The 'Jackets will next head to Newark, NJ for a matchup against New York University on Friday, Oct. 25 at 5:30 p.m.