Bobby Mo’s 2-0: Colonials beat St. Francis, 2-1

Photo courtesy Robert Morris University athletics

From Robert Morris University report 

Behind two second half goals, the Robert Morris University women’s soccer team collected its second-straight win with a 2-1 victory over Saint Francis in non-conference action at the North Athletic Complex Sunday afternoon.

With the win, the Colonials improve to 2-0-0 on the season. Robert Morris begins the year with consecutive victories for the first time since 2013 with goals coming from Haleigh Finale & Kayla Veloso-Lima. Meanwhile, The Red Flash fall to 0-2-0 this season.

“Pleased to get another win under our belt today. I thought we were fantastic to start the game and played some good soccer.” Head coach Chris Shaw said. “We need to continue to be more clinical in the final 1/3 and finish more of the chances we created. I thought we made the final 15 minutes much harder then it needed to be but credit to Saint Francis for playing hard to the final whistle.”

In the first half, the Colonials were aggressive early as they recorded four shots and four corner kicks in the first 15 minutes of the match. Saint Francis threatened to take the lead in the 22′ as Lauren Pyle put a shot towards the bottom center of the net that was saved by redshirt senior Isabella Bohlen. The two teams combined for five corner kicks and four shots in the final 17 minutes of a scoreless first half.

Just a minute and 20 seconds into the second half, freshman Malia Kearns was able to beat her defender and deliver a pass across the box to senior Kayla Veloso-Lima, who beat the goaltender to the right side of the net to give Robert Morris a 1-0 lead. After two corner kicks and a shot by RMU, The Red Flash tied the game in the 59′ as a shot ricocheted off the crossbar, freshman Raine Korpics put the deflection in the left side of the net to tie the game 1-1.

The Colonials regained the lead in the 60′ as freshman Renae Mohrbacher delivered a long pass to junior Haleigh Finale, who fired a strike inside the near post to give Robert Morris a 2-1 advantage. Saint Francis looked to respond late in the second half as Lauren Persichetty put a shot off the right crossbar from the left side of the box.

Bohlen finished with two saves on nine shots faced while playing all 90 minutes of action on Sunday.

SCORING PLAYS
46′ – Veloso-Lima, Assist: Kearns
59′ – Korpics, Assist: Theobald
60′ – Finale, Assist: Mohrbacher

QUICK HITS
Veloso-Lima and Finale each recorded their first goal of the season … Mohrbacher recorded her second-straight game with an assist … Robert Morris finished with a 16-9 shot advantage, including a 7-3 edge in shots on goal … The Colonials held a 15-4 lead in corner kicks

UP NEXT
The Colonials return to action on Thursday, August 25, when it hosts Mount St. Mary’s at the North Athletic Complex, starting at 4 p.m.