CALDWELL, N.J. - - Sophomore Ashley Kroll completed the comeback for the Wilmington University women's soccer team, keeping its hope for a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference regular season title alive with a 2-1 victory over Caldwell on Sunday afternoon at Caldwell Field.
Playing a game that was originally scheduled for Saturday but pushed back to Sunday due to rain showers, the Wildcats (9-6-2, 9-1-1 CACC) scored the final two goals, with Kroll's game-winner coming in the 48th minute.
The Wildcats are now two points from CACC leader Philadelphia with one conference game remaining, as a win will give Wilmington 31 points and the outright regular season title. Philadelphia has 30 points after completing its conference schedule at 10-2. The Wildcats will go for the CACC Tournament's No. 1 seed on Tuesday against Georgian Court starting at 3:30 p.m.
In a pivotal CACC matchup, Caldwell (11-4, 8-2 CACC) was also in position to win the CACC regular season if it won out, but the Cougars couldn't capitalize on an early goal and a 1-0 lead against Wilmington. The Cougars scored 14 seconds in the match, but that was the only ball to get by Wildcat goalkeeper Amanda Walters in 90 minutes.
The comeback started in the 21st minute, as Chelsea Grace continued her excellent week on the pitch, scoring in her third straight match to even the match. Jenna Quaranta played a nice through ball down the field and Grace finished the game-tying goal with a shot from 18 yards out.
After scoring a hat trick on Wednesday at Chestnut Hill and the game-winner over Felician last Saturday, Grace now leads the team with eight goals on the year, also adding a team high five assists for 21 points.
The teams headed into the halftime break knotted at 1-1, but Caldwell held the advantage in shots, 9-6, and corners, 4-2. Walters made four saves in the half to keep the Wildcats in the contest.
The Wildcats jumped on the Cougars early in the second half as Quaranta and Victoria Vasapolli set up Kroll on a cross from the left side. The ball deflected right to Kroll who beat Cougar goalkeeper Kristina Cabales only 2:40 into the second half. It was Kroll's fourth goal on the season.
Kroll's goal would hold up for the rest of the match as the Wildcats came away with the big victory. The Wildcats outshot the Cougars, 8-5, in the second 45 minutes as the teams finished tied for the match with 14 shots each.
Kroll led the Wildcats with four shots off the bench while Grace finished with three. Grace, Kroll and Morgan Fraczkowski each tallied two shots on goal for the match. Walters made six saves in the game to preserve the victory.