The Wilkes Women’s soccer team was able to come up their first NCAA tournament victory in program history in their first round matchup defeating Connecticut College, 1-0, on Saturday afternoon at Johns Hopkins University.

For much of the 1st half, and into the beginning of the 2nd half, the Lady Camels of Connecticut College seemed to have the advantage over the Lady Colonels of Wilkes, as they dominated their offensive side of the field for most of that time.

Towards the end of the first half, the intensity on the Lady Colonel’s side seemed to pick up slightly. Elena Denger and Elise Brubaker were able to get off a couple of shots in the final minutes. Denger’s shot went high and Brubaker’s shot was saved by the Camel’s goalkeeper Bryanna Montalvo in the final seconds.

Even throughout the whole game, Connecticut had more touches on the ball and seemed to have the upper hand for much of the action. They were just unable to capitalize on the chances they had.

Going into the 2nd half, the Lady Colonels started to see momentum shift their way. It didn’t take long for them to capitalize on that, as Catherine Gregoire played a ball into the box in the 57th minute. Oliverio finished on a very impressive bicycle kick goal that sent the team going crazy.

“I honestly thought it was gonna go over [the net], but I said ‘I’m just gonna go for it’, and it happened to go in, and I was pretty surprised,” Oliverio said. “But I’m glad it went in.”

Head Coach John Sumoski was also impressed by Oliverio’s goal in the victory.

“It’s hard to put it into words,” Sumoski said. “The goal was absolutely phenomenal. That’s the best goal I’ve seen here in 16 years.”

The Lady Colonels survived a few scares during the game that could have changed the whole perplexion of the Saturday afternoon affair. In the 22nd minute, the Lady Camels came sprinting down the field on a transition and had a great opportunity to try to find the back of the net. The whole Lady Colonel sideline took a deep breath as the Camels’ Michelle Medina’s shot attempt appeared to be heading towards the back of the net, but ended up banging off the left post.

Another scare happened in the 53rd minute when Gregoire appeared to kick the ball into her own net, but it was determined that it hit above the net off the football post first.

Later in the contest, Gregoire was involved in another huge play, as she was given a red card in the 69th minute for a hand-ball. Alex Bukovac took the penalty kick but Courtney Stanley was able to come up with the save to pick up her teammate.

“I honestly didn’t really see what happened… my heart kinda sunk, because there were moments in the game where we had a little pressure… I was getting nervous at that point when that happened,” Sumoski said about both the near own-goal and the penalty.

The Lady Camels saw themselves with another great opportunity in the 72nd minute as they had back-to-back shots, with the second one going off the crossbar, this time off the opposite right crossbar.

Stanley made two saves in the 78th minute to hold the 1-0 lead. She finished the day with five saves making some impressive diving and grinding stops to record her 11th shutout overall on the season.

Connecticut College, seemingly outplaying Wilkes, outshot the Lady Colonels, 15-5.

Wilkes 1, Connecticut 0

Wilkes`0`1 –`1

Connecticut`0`0 –`0

Second half — WIL, Micaela Oliverio (Catherine Gregoire), 52:10.

Shots — WIL 5; CON 15. Saves — WIL 5 (Courtney Stanley); CON 2 (Bryanna Montalvo). Corners — WIL 2; CON 8.