Tough loss for women's soccer

For the third time in as many games, the Xavier women's soccer team played past regulation time. The women, who won their previous two double overtime games, lost this past Friday in the second overtime to No. 19 Dayton by a

score of 2-1. The defeat pushed the Musketeers record to 5-4-0 on the season and 0-1 in Atlantic 10 conference play.

The Musketeers were on the scoreboard first after a 19th

minute goal from junior Leslie Boersma. Boersma finished from the top of the penalty box after receiving a pass

from sophomore Ashton Green. The Flyers answered the opening goal with their first tally of the game in the

68th minute. The game remained tied at 1-1 until the 102nd minute of action, when Dayton scored a "golden goal" inside the penalty box. Head coach Woody Sherwood

was proud of the team's effort despite the tough overtime loss. "For us to hang around until double overtime with one of the best teams in the country is a testament to where the program has come," Sherwood said. He is pleased with the progress the young team has made in his second year, noting that these close losses against nationally ranked teams are not just lucky games. "The first few times we played top teams [Indiana University and the Ohio State University], people might not have taken it seriously,

but now everyone is starting to realize this [program] is no fluke." Freshman goalkeeper Katie Markesbery continued her rookie career by posting 14 saves versus Dayton.

The Musketeers were only able to record four shots on

goal, which is something that the coaching staff would like to improve. "We'd like to score more goals," Sherwood said. "If we could get a few more goals, we would be in a

really good spot with the way our defense has played."

The women have a chance to up their scoring Thursday at 7 p.m. in Indianapolis as they take on Butler. The game will be a homecoming for Sherwood, who coached at Butler for seven years. "Butler is a team pretty similar to us, so it should be an evenlymatched game," Sherwood said.