By: Adam Purvis ~Staff Writer~

Welcome back from fall break, Xavier students. While many of us headed home, relaxed and slept, women’s soccer continued to play games throughout the break. Since the last edition, women’s soccer went up against Providence, Marquette and Seton Hall, facing Providence and Seton Hall at home. The women’s team was supposed to play against Georgetown after its Providence match, but the game was postponed due to inclement weather until Oct. 14.

Providence made its way over to Cincinnati on Oct. 1 to take on the Musketeers. Xavier played a strong game after an early goal from the Friars in minute nine of the match where the shot hit the crossbar and bounced into the back of the goal. The Friars would remain scoreless for the rest of the match, as did Xavier. Xavier made many dangerous plays throughout the second half, such as a shot from sophomore Addie Englehart that narrowly went over the goal in the 60th minute. Junior goalkeeper Rachel Piccus racked up seven saves for herself in this match. In the end, the score of the match was 1-0.

To kickoff Fall Break, the women’s  team traveled to Milwaukee to play a close match against the Marquette Golden Eagles in the rain on Oct. 8. The women’s team was defeated in overtime 1-0. The goal came in the 91st minute with a narrow slip through Piccus’ wet hands. Piccus had a great game with eight saves throughout the match. The offense kept the pressure with three successive shots early in the second half by freshman Samantha Dewey.

To end fall break, the women’s team beat Seton Hall at home 1-0 in a Big East match. This win was the first win for the Musketeers in the conference. The goal of the match came in the 24th minute from sophomore Kenadie Carlson after a center from sophomore Maddie Tierney. Dewey also got the assist after she fed the ball to Tierney on the right to set up the goal for the day.

Xavier outshot the Pirates 13-11 and controlled the ball for much of the first half. Piccus had another impressive eight saves during the match even with increased pressure from Seton Hall throughout the second half. Seton Hall hurt itself in the second half due to the loss of a player from a red card. The women’s team currently stands at 6-6-1 for the year and is off to play Georgetown at noon on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. in order to make up the match that had to be rescheduled.