Women's Soccer stunned in overtime, falls to Norwich 5-4

(Northfield, Vt.) The Rivier University Women's Soccer team suffered a heartbreaking overtime defeat this evening on the road at Noriwch University, 5-4 in a thrilling Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest. Norwich's freshman forward Jordan Kacur (Cato-Meridian, N.Y.) scored the golden goal with 4:06 left to play in the first overtime.

Rivier falls to 3-8-1 overall and 1-7-0 in the conference while Norwich recorded their first conference victory and is now 3-8-1 overall and 1-5-0 GNAC.

Kacur collected a bouncing ball about 25 yards away from goal and fired a shot past Rivier sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Goodspeed (Merrimack, N.H.) to send the Cadets' bench pouring onto the field to celebrate.

Kacur and sophomore forward Tiana Cass (Torrington, Conn.) each notched two goals, while freshman forward Kristen Dukette (Northfield, Vt.) scored one as well.

Norwich took the lead 35 seconds into the game with Cass racing through the Rivier defense and firing a shot into the corner of the net to give the Cadets an early 1-0 lead on her fifth goal of the season. Freshman Danielle Johnson (Groton, Mass.) picked up the assist after bombing a through ball down the field that Cass ran down for the goal.

Rivier responded at the 4:29 mark with senior Paxton LaRocque (Londonderry, N.H.) scoring her first goal of the night off a crossing pass from the right from sophomore Nicole Godschall (Hudson, N.H.).

Cass scored her second of the game at the 31:52 mark by burying a shot with authority just inside the post after the goalkeeper got an initial piece of her first shot. Jenna Perkins (Nottingham, N.H.) picked up the assist after playing a through ball to Cass.

Rivier tied the game back up at 2-2 in the 39th minute with LaRocque once again scoring for the Raiders.

Rivier took its first lead of the game in the 43rd minute with junior Maggie Cohoon (Derry, N.H.) scoring her first of the game to make it 3-2 Raiders heading into halftime.

Kacur scored her first collegiate goal in the 57th minute, burying a rebound chance off the right post after sophomore Ashley Carvalho's penalty kick attempt nailed the cross bar and bounced back out.

Rivier responded on a penalty kick rebound goal of its own in the 75th minute with Cohoon collecting her own rebound after NU sophomore goalkeeper Leandra Flores-Nieves (Colorado Springs, Colo.) made the initial save.

Norwich tied the game back up at 4-4 in the 78th minute with Dukette racing down the right side of the field and burying a shot into the bottom left corner of the net with a defender draped all over her. Junior midfielder Mehgan McMullen picked up the assist after playing a long ball over the top down the right wing.

Goodspeed made eight saves for Rivier. Flores-Nieves made eight saves as well for the Cadets.

"Dominated and played well." Head Coach Laura Ray was quoted after the overtime loss. "Small mistakes unfortunately led to goals against and we created many dangers opportunities but couldn't finish enough of them. Very good performances by midfielder Paxton LaRocque and forward Maggie Cohoon as well as outside back Amanda Wickens." 

Rivier will look to rebound on the road against Suffolk University in their next scheduled contest on Saturday, October 17th.