NORTHFIELD, Minn. -- The Carleton College women's soccer team got the game-winning score in the 85th minute to pull out a 2-1 victory over crosstown rival St. Olaf College. With the win, the Knights (9-5-4, 6-2-3 MIAC) advance to the conference playoffs. Niki Tomita’s (So./Redwood City, Calif./Woodside) fourth goal of the week proved to be the game-winner.
The Knights will be the fourth seed when the conference tournament gets underway at 2 p.m. on Tue., Nov. 3. Carleton will be traveling to Concordia College for what promises to be another late-season thriller. The Knights led the national No. 7 Cobbers (16-0-1, 10-0-1 MIAC) for a large portion of their meeting a week ago, before settling for a 1-1 tie, the lone blemish on Concordia’s season. Those teams also met in the finals of the 2008 playoffs, with Carleton prevailing, 3-0.
Since opening the year 1-4-1, the Knights have played stellar soccer of late, going 8-1-3 since Sept. 19. That seemingly slow start reflects Carleton’s tough non-conference schedule that prepared Keren Gudeman’s squad for the challenges of MIAC play.
“In my time at Carleton we've been a team that has always picked up momentum throughout the season,” she explained. “We have gotten stronger from those tough games, and we've learned from our early mistakes to competitive opponents. We pick up momentum as our team grows closer, and we realize that we want our season to continue for as long as possible.”
In what was a “win-or-go home” game for the Knights, Carleton scored first in the 10th minute when defender Rachel Foran (So./River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) finished a loose ball from the top of the 18. Following a corner kick, there was a scramble in front of the St. Olaf goal. The ball popped out to Foran, who slotted her shot over the outstretched arms of keeper Elizabeth Huggins and into the top of the net.
Carleton really settled in after the early goal and created several dangerous opportunities but could not pad its lead before halftime.
The Knights fortunes suddenly looked much less cheery when St. Olaf’s Lindsay Howard tallied the equalizer in the 67th minute. The Oles leading scorer got the ball at the top left corner of the 18-yard box, worked toward the middle and blasted a shot over Carleton netminder Beth Ashinsky (Fy./Mount Kisco, N.Y./Horace Greeley). It was Howard’s team-best 14th goal of the season.
“In the second half, it felt like we came out to just defend, to hold on to a lead, rather than building on it,” admitted Gudeman. “St. Olaf did a great job putting on the pressure and creating some great scoring opportunities. The goal was well-earned, and it forced us to pick our intensity back up.”
When it looked like the tie score would ultimately doom Carleton’s postseason dreams, the Bell Field crowd erupted when Tomita scored in the 85th minute for her team-leading eighth goal of the year. Proving to be a late-season sparkplug, she has tallied six of the Knights’ seven goals scored over the last seven days.
“In the final 10-15 minutes I thought we put good pressure on their back line and created some good chances getting in behind their defensive unit,” Gudeman said. “The final goal came from just that—our forwards working hard to put pressure on their back line.”
Ashinsky and Huggins both recorded six saves on the afternoon.
After the contest, the Knights honored the rosters’ two seniors: defender Emma Dobbins (Portland, Ore./Grant) and midfielder Mia Zutz (Middleton, Wis.). Dobbins has been a starter at outside back for the Knights, while Zutz, an All-Region performer in 2008, has been sidelined all season by a knee injury.
“It was a wonderful opportunity to thank them for their four years of dedication, commitment, leadership, and positivity. We love them, and we just want to make our season continue to allow them to continue to be Carleton women's soccer players.”
