Anchorwomen drop tough 2-1 game to 8th-ranked Wesleyan

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Wesleyan's Hillary Biggs gave her club the go-ahead goal in the 56th minute en route to a 2-1 victory over the Rhode Island College Anchorwomen at RIC Soccer Field Wednesday night.

Biggs and Cora Lautze (25th minute) scored for the eighth-ranked (New England Division III) Cardinals. Christina Tavana scored for the Anchorwomen in the 29th minute.

The match began with heavy Cardinal pressure, as Sam Blank and Beth Kenworthy kept the young RIC backs busy for much of the first half. Even when the ball poked through the box, keeper Maddie Pirri kept Wesleyan off the board until the 25th minte when Taylor Stevenson sent a corner kick to Lautze, who deftly headed it in for the opening goal.

Undeterred, RIC came back less than four minutes when Tavan launched an uncannily accurate free kick from 25-yards that sailed above the grasp of Cardinal keeper Gavi Elkind to knot the score at one apiece.

Then, in the 41st minute, Tavana nearly clinched the go-ahead when she sent another 25-yard free kick - this one from the right - goalward before it clanked off the bar.

RIC gained momentum in the second half, and threatened in the Wesleyan zone more as the game progressed.

But when Blank found Biggs underneath the defense, there was no stopping the freshman midfielder, who found the back of the net in the 55th minute.

The Anchorwomen peppered the Cardinal goal with shots from Tavana, Chelsea Creamer and Alicia Lardaro. But the equalizer never appeared, as the RIC conceded the 2-1 score to Wesleyan.