BRISTOL, R.I.  – Three first-half goals by helped give Worcester Polytechnic Institute a 5-2 victory over the Roger Williams University Women's Soccer team Tuesday evening.
 
Hawk Highlights
Leah Yucius: 1 goal, 2 shots, 2 shots on goal
Rachel Oster: 3 shots, 2 shots on goal
Morgan Strassburg: L, 3 saves, 2 goals allowed, 45:00 minutes in goal
Sami Brody: 3 saves, 2 goals allowed, 45:00 minutes in goal
 
For The Opponents
Josie Kim: 2 goals, 3 shots, 2 shots on goal
Annika Keck: 1 goal, 1 shot, 1 shot on goal
Lauren Paul: W, 6 saves, 2 goals allowed, 78:57 minutes in goal
 
How It Happened
The Hawk defense almost got in trouble early as a Lilly Proulx (New Boston, N.H.) was able to steal a misplayed ball in the box in the opening minute. Proulx got the ball on the left side of the box and put up a shot to the right but pushed it just wide.
 
Six minutes later, Proulx would capitalize on another Hawk error, stealing the ball from a Hawk defender and burying a shot in the right corner.
 
Then in the 16^th minute, Grace Casey (Winchester, Mass.) served up a corner kick into the middle of the box. Sofia Orrico (Bethel, Conn.) tapped the ball to her left to Annika Keck (Oakland, Calif.), who was able to convert the shot on goal to put WPI up by two.
 
The Engineers would not be done, collecting another goal in the 36^th minute. A Hawk foul set up a free kick opportunity for Josie Kim (San Jose, Calif.) about thirty yards out. Kim booted a high shot over the wall and over Morgan Strassburg (Longmeadow, Mass.).
 
WPI almost added another goal with three minutes to go in the first half, with Elizabeth Rocco (Fresh Meadows, N.Y.) putting in a shot off of a free kick but was ruled offsides.
 
RWU had an opportunity to get on the board in the 18^th minute, with Bianca Robbins (Johnston, R.I.) serving up a point-blank shot. Yet WPI keeper Lauren Paul (Schaghticoke, N.Y.) was able to secure Robbins' shot, preserving the shutout.
 
Early in the second half, the Engineers had a second goal wiped off the board, with Orrico bending a shot into the right corner just after being called offsides. They would still manage to score in the 56^th minute, with Kim lofting a 25-yarder into the left corner off a free kick for her second goal of the game.
 
Leah Yucius (Duxbury, Mass.) almost gave the Hawks their first score in the 58^th minute, but like Robbins, her shot in front of the net was stopped by Paul. Yet Roger Williams would finally add their first goal of the game a minute later, though not off of their own touch. A misplayed clearing header by Hannah Wolfgang (Holliston, Mass.) bounced backwards into the net for RWU's first goal.
 
The Hawks would cut the deficit in half in the 67^th minute. Yucius served up a pass on the left side to Jordin Comstock (East Granby, Conn.), who waited for Yucius to make her way back in. A touch pass to Yucius allowed her to convert a shot and pull the Hawks within two.
 
The Hawks would continue to put offensive pressure on the Engineers, but timely saves by Paul helped keep the Hawks at bay. She avoided having RWU add another goal with 11 minutes to play, denying a shot from Rachel Oster (Scituate, R.I.) from five yards away.
 
Ranya Basma (Shirley, Mass.) tallied the final goal of the contest, gaining possession in the box and making her way through the Hawk defense and scoring.

Coach's Corner
We were awesome at times and poor in others. When you create enough chances to win you must be disappointed. Saying that, we shot ourselves in the foot multiple times, we were our own worst enemy tonight, and if you do that it is difficult to win. We made high school and club soccer errors, and at this level, against a good team with quality players you get punished. They took their chances and taught us a valuable lesson.

On the flip side we did a lot of very good things in this game, and probably any other night we come back and win the game. Although we were down by three goals at half time, we felt we were still in the match, and it was much closer than the score line suggested. 

For those in attendance it was an awesome collegiate soccer match to watch. It was back and forth with both teams going at it. Several times in the first and second half we were battering them, and it seemed at any time we would score four or five. Going into the last fifteen or twenty minutes we believed a comeback was still possible. We didn't give up or throw in the towel. It was exciting to watch and entertaining to those who came out to support us.

We have always had exciting teams at Roger Williams and this team can achieve great things if we can grow quickly. Winning is important and we want to win games, and it can happen. We can rebound from this, and we have a great opportunity to do so on Saturday.

It is important to be angry that we let this game get away from us, it is also important to see the silver lining. We are who we are, for better or for worse, and we will be until we make those changes necessary to happen to take us to the next level.

If we hold up our heads despite the individual mistakes and use the time in practice to work on our weaknesses, we will be a team that can compete and be a team hat can challenge anybody come November, this year, this season.

What's Next
Roger Williams (5-3): Saturday, September 25 at Curry @ 11:00am
WPI (5-3): Saturday, September 25 vs. Emerson @ 4:00pm