ATLANTA, GA – University of Rochester women's soccer fell to the 22nd-ranked Emory University Eagles in its regular-season finale, 3-1, on Saturday afternoon at the Woodruff Physical Education Center.
The Yellowjackets found an early equalizer after Mikayla Camp's 30th-minute goal briefly gave the Eagles an early lead, but two second-half scores by Emory went unanswered, as the Eagles pulled away with the victory.
Eleni McGuire got the start in goal for URochester and was tested early, having to make an early save on a shot from Camp just over a minute into the contest.
Emory challenged McGuire again in the 12th minute, as Kaitlyn Nimmer found some space and fired a shot on goal from the left wing, but McGuire dived to her right to make the save.
Just over three minutes later, McGuire came up with another stop, as UR's sophomore keeper made five saves, including four in the first, facing 16 shots, eight of which were on goal, from the 22nd-ranked Eagles.
Natalie Santangelo took Rochester's first shot on the contest just past the 17:30 mark, flicking a misplayed ball by Emory's defense towards goal, but Rachel Carr came up with one of her three saves on the afternoon to keep things scoreless.
Following attempts from
Hannah Nagashima and
Sydney Holmes that went wide, Emory would break through in the 30th minute on Camp's score. A foul gave the Eagles a free kick from about 25 yards out above the top of the box, and Camp's shot clanged off the post and into the back of the net to give Emory a one-goal lead.
That lead would be short-lived, however, as after McGuire made another save on a strike from Camp, Rochester took things the other way and found the equalizer.
Pushing up field in the 37th minute,
Madeline Waffner beat her defender and passed it across to Nagashima, who in turn found a wide-open
Jane Mueller, who beat Carr to the far post to level the score at one-all.
The Yellowjackets would head into the locker room with the score tied at one, but Emory put the pressure back on URochester's defense early in the second, and found the back of the net in the 58th minute to take the lead.
Early, second-half attempts from Emory Bozzuti and Nimmer sailed wide, before Nimmer saw her 58th-minute attempt blocked. The Eagles kept possession, though, and on a cross-in from Nimmer, a misplayed header resulted in an own goal, giving the Eagles a 2-1 lead.
Santangelo looked to quickly answer on the other end, but her 59th-minute attempt sailed just high over the bar, as did
Lauren Blanch's shot in the 70th minute.
McGuire came up with her lone save of the second half in the 75th minute, stopping a long-distance attempt from Alexan Burtis-Wyant, before the Yellowjackets pressed forward over the final 10 minutes, once again looking for the equalizer.
Nagashima saw another shot blocked just shy of the 82-minute mark, while Carr made a diving save on a long-distance shot from Mueller in the 86th minute, resulting in a Yellowjacket corner.
Emory defended the corner, though, and took things the other way, sealing the match with another score on an 87th-minute goal from Madison Teng, assisted by Camp.
Now down two scores, Rochester looked for one more late, but Carr came up with another on Blanch's header off a free kick in the 89th minute, while Santangelo missed just wide with 22 seconds left before the final horn sounded.
The loss drops the Yellowjackets to 8-4-5 (0-4-3 UAA), while the Eagles move to 10-3-5 (2-3-2 UAA) with the win.
Individually, Santangelo led Rochester with four shots, while Mueller had two shots, both of which were on goal, and one of which went into the back of the net. In goal, McGuire made five saves.
Rochester will now wait and see if they earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, set to begin next Saturday, Nov. 14.
