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Saint Leo falls to 0-10 against conference foe University of Tampa

By MIKE TOMPKINS
Published September 21, 2006

ST. LEO - Entering Tuesday night's heavily anticipated showdown against eighth-ranked University of Tampa, the Saint Leo women's soccer team was riding high. Their 19th-place ranking in the NSCAA/Adidas Top 25 national poll was their highest ever, and their defense, highlighted by goalkeeper Lauren Hudson, had yielded just one goal in starting the season 6-0-1.

But in the 106th minute of Tuesday's rain-soaked affair, Spartans defender Malana Winskas headed a deflected Alison Penland corner kick past Hudson, as the Lions dropped a double-overtime heartbreaker against their SSC nemesis, 2-1. Tampa improved to 10-0 all time against Saint Leo.

"I'm just disappointed for the girls for the effort that we put in," Lions coach Ged O'Connor said. "The important thing is that we don't let this one loss break everything that's happened up until now. We went and we competed, and we showed that we could hang with supposedly one of the top teams in the country. I've got no problem with that."

Following a torrential downpour that delayed the start of the game 56 minutes, both teams struggled to find scoring opportunities, as both defenses excelled . There wasn't a shot on goal until 8:32 into the first half, when Lions senior forward and former Land O'Lakes star Casie Poyssick found herself one-on-one with Spartans keeper and former Gator teammate Shannon Aitken. But Poyssick's attempt went right at the sophomore, who made the first of her three saves.

After the scoreless first half, the Lions (6-1-1) jumped on the board with a Hannah Beard goal less than two minutes into the second half. Beard's goal followed an indirect kick into the box, which the Spartans could not clear. As the ball bounced around, Beard one-timed it into the top right corner for her team-leading sixth goal of the season.

Tampa tied it less than 12 minutes later, as midfielder Kara Rasmussen came out of nowhere to head a Penland indirect kick past Hudson, who had already committed to the ball. The former Mitchell standout had one save on the night, as Saint Leo was outshot 10-6.

[Last modified September 20, 2006, 23:09:14]