GEORGETOWN, Ky. – Women's soccer fell to Georgetown (2-1, 1-0 MSC) on the road, 1-0, to open conference play on Saturday. For the Bears (2-4, 0-1 MSC), sophomore goalie Emily Kuehn made five saves – all of which came in the second half - to keep her team in the game. Nonetheless, Georgetown's Kelsey Givens stopped all five shots the she faced to help her squad hold on for the shutout win.
In the opening 45 minutes of play, both defenses were able to hold their offensive counterparts at bay for the most part. Although the Tigers took eight shots in the opening half and the Bears got off four attempts, each side was just able to put one of those attempts on goal. After a Bears' shot by Alisha Fournier went wide in the fourth minute, the Tigers took the next four shots, but were off target on each.
The Bears earned the first corner of the game in the 16th minute after a Schuyler Jones shot was blocked. However, SSU got no good looks off that attempt and the Tigers would turn the possession in their favor. They would capitalize in the 19th minute.
When Georgetown did gets its only attempt of the half on goal, the Tigers made it count as Bea Cameron scored off an assist from Jackie Powell right around the penalty kick mark to take the early 1-0 lead. The Tigers would also take the next three shots, but send them all wide. The Bears tried to find the equalizer heading into the half, but shots by Teresa Welch and Elizabeth Abbott both went wide in the waning minutes of the opening 45.
The second half saw Kuehn save five Georgetown shots to keep her team in the game, but the offense just could not break through against the Tigers' Givens. Just out of the break, the Bears' sophomore had to stop four of those shots in the first 20 minutes of the second half. Shawnee State got its first chance of the second half with shots on goal by Aubrey Johnson and Brittney Brooks that where each saved.
Both of those chances came with under 20 minutes to play as SSU tried to rally back into the game. In the 82nd minute, Katy Castillo also got a shot on goal that would end up being saved. Kuehn was forced to make her final save in the 84th minute and Shawnee State would make one final push to send the game to overtime. However, Johnson's second shot on goal of the second half was saved and Georgetown would not allow another chance as it held on for the narrow 1-0 victory.
For the game, the Tigers held a 15-9 advantage in shots and 6-5 edge in shots on goal. The Bears attack spread their shots around as Johnson was the only player with two shots in the game. Both of her attempts were on net.
Shawnee State will get back into non-conference action this Tuesday with a match against Cincinnati Christian at 7 p.m. That meeting will take place at Xavier University. MSC action resumes for the team next Saturday at St. Catharine.
