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Kansas City
Seattle
Seattle Surges Past Kansas City
10/27/2013 5:12:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Senior Julia Besagno scored a pair of goals to carry the visiting Seattle Redhawks past Kansas City 3-0 at Durwood Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The 'Roos (9-8-1, 6-4-0) encountered a deficit almost immediately, as Besagno snuck a header through a crowd of defenders and into the net to give Seattle (12-2-2, 9-0-0) a 1-0 advantage just over four minutes into the match.
The ensuing 40 minutes were, in large part, controlled by Kansas City, however, as UMKC outshot the Redhawks 7-3 and earned three corner kicks to Seattle's one.
In the eighth minute, Ellie Chadick got a beat on her defender and managed to place a well-played shot attempt just beyond the reach of Seattle goalkeeper Brianna Smallidge. The try skipped just inches wide, ricocheting off of the right post before being cleared by Redhawks defenders – thus, setting a theme of poor luck that would characterize the game's early stages for UMKC.
The 'Roos' next near miss would come at 27' with the ever-dangerous Kaely Tott lining up a set piece from just over 20 yards out. Tott fired a line drive that looked to be on frame from the outset, but the shot went begging just high, bounding off of the cross bar.
All told, Kansas City had to be pleased with its effort and level of play in the opening act of the match. Unfortunately for the home team, circumstances turned from six-to-midnight after halftime.
Seattle, which had, by all accounts, been found wanting in the contest's early possession battle, established a strangle hold in the second half, during which time SU's back third was virtually uninhabited.
Besagno struck again in the 71st minute, cashing in a majestic entry from sophomore midfielder Kelly Beck. Besagno's second goal of the match was also Beck's second assist.
The Redhawks unleashed 12 shots while never allowing a single attempt in the final 45 minutes, putting 10 attempts on goal, and requiring that Kangaroo goalkeeper Nina Tzianos be nothing short of spectacular.
Tzianos was exactly that on no less than a handful of occasions. With less than 10 minutes to play, however, Seattle midfielder Heather Thomas found the other end of a perfectly placed cross by Taylor Ritzman to push the margin to 3-0 and put the game on ice.
Kansas City will return to Durwood Stadium next weekend to close its season with a pair of home matches versus Bakersfield and Utah Valley. Friday's kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
