On a brisk Saturday evening at the Ridley Athletic Complex, Lafayette (5-10-2, 1-7-1 Patriot League) traveled to Baltimore to play Loyola (2-11-4, 1-6-2 Patriot League).
In the final match of the season at home, the stage was set for seniors Chantal Celestin, Toni Cowan, Didi Haracic, Melissa Lookingland, Katelyn McFadden and Deja Walker.
Coach Katherine Remy Vettori commented, “This is one of the most unique groups that can’t be replicated again.”
With this in mind, Loyola looked to end its season and the seniors’ collegiate careers on a positive note.
The Greyhounds began the match with aggressive play. In the 4th minute, Celestin created an opportunity for Charlotte Miller whose shot just missed, hitting both the hand of the goalkeeper, Danielle Sedillo, and the post. Several shots were exchanged between Loyola and Lafayette before the Leopards opened the scoring. Allie Torru beat Haracic from three yards away to give Lafayette an early lead in the 24th minute.
Loyola responded instantly. Miller crossed the ball from the right wing to Rosy Hayes for the score inside the box. Unfortunately for the Greyhounds, the tie lasted a mere 14 seconds. From the kickoff, Torru crossed the ball to Alyssa Finelli at the center of the box who made the extra pass to Jaclyn Giordano for the goal.
As the half neared its close, the Leopards looked to preserve their one goal advantage. After defending a loose ball in front of their net, the Greyhounds went on the offensive. Maddie Boccio played a beautiful cross over the Lafayette defense to Nicole Wojcik who scored with help from the post.
Starting the second half with multiple offensive opportunities, it seemed the Leopards would take the lead. In the 57th minute, the Leopards played a perfect through-ball to Joanna Scotti who only had the keeper to beat. Haracic had other plans, however, and came out of the net, breaking-up the play for the outstanding save.
Lafayette continued to test the Loyola defense and Giordano scored her second goal of the contest in the 61st minute after receiving a pass from Avery Jackson.
Instead of accepting defeat, the Greyhounds refused to quit. In her final collegiate game, McFadden responded. Unassisted, she took a shot from 10 yards away, burying it in the top right corner to reestablish the dead-lock.
“It was just a feeling of relief to have that feeling one last time, watching the ball go in the net and tie it up for my team,” said McFadden.
Both teams struggled to make personnel changes and offensive adjustments, yet neither could break the tie. Lookingland took a shot in the 87th minute, but it went high and led to overtime.
The Greyhounds won the shot differential, 2-0, in the first overtime, but were unable to capitalize on these opportunities. In the second overtime, the Leopards earned multiple goal-scoring opportunities, but the Loyola defense held strong and forced the double overtime tie.
Throughout the match, Haracic commanded the defense for the Greyhounds, making spectacular saves. Haracic’s play resulted in 10 saves for the match—almost half of which came in the overtime periods—and a total of 85 on the season.
Additionally, with her performance, Haracic recorded the 315th save of her career, passing Mary Clark for most saves in school history. The previous record of 310 saves had stood for an impressive 17 years.
Despite her historic performance, Haracic remained humble, “I’m not going to take full credit for all those saves and shutouts because, as you can tell tonight, my team backs me up. I make the first save and it goes behind me and they’ll cover me.”
Haracic plans to play professionally in either the United States or internationally.
The final score does not always indicate a team’s merit, and the cumulative statistics often tell the full story. In spite of their record, 13 of the Greyhounds’ 17 games were decided by one goal or less. Loyola made it a point to be competitive in every match.
Reflecting upon the season, Coach Remy Vettori commented, “The way you get better is [by] learning from mistakes,” she said, “sometimes losing can be an unhappy thing, but this hasn’t been a miserable experience because [the team is] so close and they can play with anybody…I think the future is super bright.”
