PK
Trips up Houghton Women
(Livonia,
Mich.)—A penalty kick with less than two minutes remaining
in the game sent the Houghton College women’s soccer team to
a 1-0 defeat in its season opener against Madonna University
Tuesday afternoon.
It
was the fourth straight year that the two teams have played
a low-scoring game in the first or second game of the
season. The previous three were draws—0-0, 1-1 and 0-0. It
looked like this one was headed to a 0-0 tie as well, until
the 89th minute.
That’s when three Houghton defenders surrounded a Madonna
attacker near the edge of the 18-yard box and tripped her
up. “It was a bit of an unnecessary foul,” said David Lewis,
the head coach of the Highlanders, noting that the Madonna
player wasn’t about to score.
“We
didn’t generate any attack,” Lewis noted, “and it’s hard to
win without quality shots.” Houghton had just one shot on
goal for the game.
The
Highlander defense was solid early on, allowing no shots in
the first half and just three on goal for the whole game.
Freshman Erin Asquith (Arcade, N.Y./Pioneer) made two saves
for Houghton, while Madonna’s Brittany Warner was credited
with one
Each
team had four corner kicks. Shots were 7-6 in Madonna’s
favor.
Houghton, now 0-1-0, will attempt to turn things around
quickly with a Wednesday afternoon game against Cornerstone
University in Grand Rapids, Mich. Kickoff time is 4 p.m.
