Women's Soccer Plays Cincinnati to 0-0 Draw in 2OT

Sunday, September 20

Cincinnati, Ohio

6:30 P.M.

Xavier University

5-3-1

Cincinnati

5-2-3

OT 5

OT 6

CINCINNATI

Xavier

Photo by: Doug Cochran

Women's Soccer Plays Cincinnati to 0-0 Draw in 2OT

09.20.15 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Rachel Piccus collected career-high 13 saves

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI - Xavier women's soccer closed out its non-conference schedule by posting a strong defensive performance against crosstown rival Cincinnati. After 110 minutes of play, the Musketeers (5-3-1) and Bearcats (5-2-3) ended in a 0-0 double-overtime draw at Xavier on Sunday night. Junior goalkeeper Rachel Piccus set a new career high for saves to help hold the Bearcats scoreless.

The Xavier defense collected its fifth shutout of the season, and held UC's leading scorer Danielle Rotheram to just two shots on goal.

"Last year we were never in that game, we weren't really competitive and we've been thinking about that for 364 days," said Xavier head coach Woody Sherwood after the match. "They're very hard to play against, they're great in the air and number seven (Rotheram) is a different level player. For us to keep her off the scoreboard like we did is a great testament to what we've done in the last 12 months."

Defenders junior Courtney Kobashigawa and sophomore Carly Alfano each played all 110 minutes, helping disrupt a UC offense that collected nine goals in its last four games.

"We had good double teams when we needed to and forced her (Rotheram) into some tough shots and that's what you have to do to stay in games with players like that."

Piccus anchored the Xavier backline for the entire game, making 13 saves, including stretching to get a hand on a free kick from just outside the box that would have passed just under the crossbar. Piccus nearly doubled her previous career-high of seven, set against IUPUI, bringing her season save total to 52. This is her third complete shutout of the season.

"(Piccus) played bigger than her size," said Sherwood. "They have three or four kids who are really good in the air that are dangerous on set pieces and corners. With our backs, mids and Piccus, we defended it pretty well."

The Xavier offense finished with 10 shots taken by six different Musketeers, led by three shots from sophomore Kenadie Carlson's.

"We played Friday night, they played Thursday," Sherwood said. "For us to have that turnaround and then last two overtimes against a really physical, aggressive team is a great testament to our group."

Cincinnati was the final non-conference test for the Musketeers before starting BIG EAST play, starting conference action by hosting defending conference champion No. 21 DePaul.

"UC was a BIG EAST team, they've got some of those players that we'll face, so it's a great last game going into our opener with DePaul because we're going to see some teams that are like that," said Sherwood.

"We're getting back to 0-0-0 after a decent non-conference; we're excited to see what happens. It looks like anybody can end up pretty much anywhere in the conference."

The Musketeers and Blue Demons are set for a 2:00 p.m. first kick on Saturday, Sept. 26 at XU Soccer Complex. Live stats will be available through GoXavier.com and a video stream will be available through the BIG EAST Digital Network.