Babson Park, FL – The Webber International Warriors women's soccer team faced off against the St. Thomas Bobcats for their first home conference game of the 2024 season. The Warriors jumped out in front early to claim their first lead of the season, but they were quickly drawn back to the defensive with the St. Thomas Bobcats offense taking control of the game and scoring four unanswered goals as they took the game from the Warriors 4-1.
The Warriors went full throttle in the first 10 minutes taking the first chance on net just twelve seconds into the game with a shot from Yerika Pereira that was saved by the Bobcat keeper. The Warriors continued pushing the offensive envelope but were befuddled by the sideline referee who called the Warriors offsides three times through the first seven minutes of play. Juliana Grider, the Warriors keeper, would make her first save of the afternoon on a header attempt from outside the box that brought no challenge to the Warriors keeper. The Warriors offensive attack would finally pay dividends for the team in white with a beautiful pass from Ana Buenrostro that setup her teammate Samantha Chitu for the chip shot from outside the box to beat the Bobcat keeper and give the Warriors the early 1-0 advantage in the 23rd minute. The Bobcats began to feel the pressure of conceding an early goal and racked up four straight shots over 10 minutes before they would equalize with a goal of their own from Alexandra Acevedo. The last play of the half would turn out to be the pivotal moment of the match with under a minute to play the Warriors found themselves on the counterattack with Rylee Bolser staring down net, but a terrific play from the Bobcat keeper helped swing the tides and lead the Bobcats to their own counterattack opportunity and Acevedo would tack on another for her second goal of the half setup beautifully with a low cross from Gabrielle Cimino to send the game into halftime 2-1 Bobcats.
The Warriors played valiantly out of the gates in the second half with shots from Makenzee Feskanin and two more from Chitu, but they were unable to find the equalizing goal. With just about 20 minutes left to play the Warriors saw two more shots from Ariana Suarez and Chitu go wide and high before the Bobcats would throw the final blow with Cimino scoring a longshot from well outside the box to push the Bobcat lead to 3-1. The Bobcats would add one more goal in the 76th minute to conclude the scoring at 4-1 and drown out the Warriors' chances for a comeback.
The Warriors will jump right back into action this weekend and invite their Crooked Lake rival the Warner Royals to Babson Park this Saturday afternoon, September 21st at 3:30 PM on the Warrior Grass Field.
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