NEWARK, Del. - - In a battle for early reign of standing atop the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference women's soccer standings, Philadelphia outgunned Wilmington University, 3-0, remaining undefeated in conference play on Wednesday afternoon at the WU Athletics Complex.
The loss was the first for the Wildcats (3-4-1, 3-1 CACC) in the conference, and was the first time all season they did not score at least one goal. Philadelphia moved to 5-2 overall and 5-0 in the CACC after dropping its first two games of the season.
The Rams controlled the pace of play in the first half, outshooting the Wildcats 9-2 for the first 45 minutes. Philadelphia also earned four corner kicks during the first frame, holding Wilmington to zero.
Philadelphia got on the board in the 17th minute as leading scoring Melissa Copeland put home her fourth goal of the season. The Rams' Michaela Van Antwerp sent a cross through the box that was dummied through to Copeland, who one-timed it past Wildcat goalkeeper Amanda Walters and into the right side netting.
Less than three minutes later, the Rams pushed across another score, this time as Copeland set up teammate Kristen Ferguson with a through ball down the middle. Ferguson was one-on-one with Walters, beating her low for her fourth goal of the season and the 2-0 lead in the 20th minute.
The Wildcats came out of the halftime break with a purpose, putting the pressure on the Rams in the early going, looking for a quick strike to get back into the contest. The Wildcats outshot the Rams, 9-5, in the second half, but was unable to solve goalkeeper Kelli Kowalewski to get on the board.
Copeland put the game away with her second goal of the contest in the second half, finding herself wide-open in front of the goal off a cross from Trisha Sileo. The pass form the right side went over top of everyone in the box and found the foot of Copeland who settled it down and scored for her fifth goal of the season.
Walters made five stops in cage for the Wildcats, including one in the first half as an attacker was in alone on goal, diving down and to her right to get a glove on it before she fell on it and secured the save.
Kowalewski gave way to Courtney Shaw in the 65th minute and Shaw was saved by a goalie's best friend as Victoria Vasapolli cranked one off the crossbar late in the second half. Kowalewski made four saves while Shaw recorded one stop. The Rams' goalkeepers extended their shutout stretch to 473 minutes and 23 seconds, dating back to the 67th minute of their contest against West Chester on September 1.
Chelsea Grace led the Wildcat attack in the second half with two shots on goal, while Penelope Fantis, Morgan Fraczkowski and Victoria Vasapolli recorded two shots during the match.
The Wildcats will look to rebound and get back into the win column on Saturday, as they head to Post for another CACC matchup starting at 12 p.m. The women's match will be followed by the men starting at 2:30 p.m.
