J.T. Mitchell
Staff Writer
On Friday afternoon, the Sewanee women’s soccer team defeated Birmingham Southern 2-1 in overtime. The win was well needed for the Tigers after coming off a heartbreaking loss against archrival Rhodes College.
Sewanee immediately got off to a hot start when Caitlyn Fahr (C’21) scored a goal off a Kiera Giacomini (C’22) cross in the seventh minute of the game. The goal from Fahr, a recent transfer from Dickinson College, was the first of her Sewanee career.
The score would stay at 1-0 for the next 72 minutes until Birmingham Southern midfielder Abby Kay Choate hit the game-tying goal off of an assist from her younger sister, Emma, in the 80th minute.
Despite having an offsides call and allowing two shots in the final two minutes, the Tigers stayed strong to force an overtime period.
Two minutes into overtime, Sewanee’s Nika Gorski (C’22) scored a stunning game-winner off of a successful cross by Fahr to give her team the victory. The goal was the freshman’s first career goal and quite a way to start a career.
“That game-winning goal came from everyone contributing and working as hard as they could,” Gorski said. “The minute the ball hit the back of the net we all dog piled on the field and celebrated like no one was watching.”
Even though the score represented a nailbiter throughout the contest, Sewanee controlled almost every aspect of the game. Creating opportunities all day, the Tigers attempted 17 shots, eight on goal, in comparison to their opponent’s mere eight attempts. The Tigers also had six more kicks from the corner than Birmingham Southern.
The win over the Panthers (6-4-3) was a huge one for the Tigers (5-9-2), as they were able to advance two spots within the conference standings with only two regular season games remaining until the postseason. The team’s next matchup will be Sunday afternoon against the Millsaps Majors from Jackson.