LANCASTER, Pa. – The Ursinus College women's soccer team combined a good defensive outing and a timely second half goal from sophomore defender Avery Webster to get past Franklin & Marshall, 1-0, in Centennial Conference action on Saturday night.
The Bears (5-5-2, 2-4) broke the scoreless deadlock in the 55th minute when Webster sent her first career goal into the lower left side of the net. Senior Kasey Sheahan played a pass into the right side of the box before Webster delivered the game-winning strike.
Webster's tally snapped the Bears' scoreless drought in road games dating back to the season-opening 3-0 win at Keystone.
Ursinus was on its heels in the last few minutes of regulation as Franklin & Marshall (1-9-1, 0-6) tried to muster anything it could but to no avail. Sophomore goalie Sabrina Doherty played well in a four-save shutout effort in net. The clean sheet marks her fourth of the season.
In the second half, both teams took four shots. In total, Ursinus outshot Franklin & Marshall, 12-8, in the game. The Bears registered six shots on net and the Diplomats put four on goal.
As for the first half, the two squads posted goose eggs in the scoring column. Ursinus did double Franklin & Marshall's first half shot total, 8-4, but the Bears only put one more shot on goal than the Diplomats. The Bears registered three shots on goal.
Each team generated a first-half scoring chance but each goalie made stops. Doherty made back-to-back quality saves on short shots from Nicolette Runko 15 minutes in.
A ball led to Ursinus freshman Skylar Knapp in the box and Franklin & Marshall keeper Gabby Panayotakis came out to challenge. Knapp sent a point-blank shot into Panayotakis but it was snared in the 34th minute.
Panayotakis stopped five shots for the Diplomats.
Ursinus hosts Muhlenberg Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.