Jackets unable to build on early goal, settling for draw at W&J

Waynesburg still looking for first PAC win after four games

It took the Waynesburg University women’s soccer team fewer than 13 minutes to score a goal in Wednesday night’s game in Washington against the Washington & Jefferson Presidents.

In the remaining 97 minutes, the Yellow Jackets [2-9-2, 0-2-2] couldn’t score again. In the meantime, the Presidents [3-7-3, 1-0-3] equalized, and Waynesburg left Washington County still without a win in Presidents’ Athletic Conference play, settling for a 1-1 draw that took two overtimes before going final. 

Jackets head coach Laura Heethuis felt her team was solid for certain stretches of time, but wasn’t able to find a consistent rhythm. 

“I thought that we played really well in spurts of the game,” Heethuis said. “We were composed quite a bit, we were able to control the ball a little bit. We came out with fire and energy, ready to play, and it was a good first 10-15 minutes for us.”

Waynesburg drew first blood in the 12th minute on junior Jill Moyer’s first goal of the season, assisted by senior Teagan Jenner. Soon after that goal, however, junior Emily Hill went down with an injury, impacting Waynesburg from that point forward. 

“She came out and was flying and going great outside in the wide areas, so we missed her for the rest of the game,” Heethuis said. 

Heethuis said, at this point, Hill is expected to be out for about two weeks, but may miss the rest of the season depending on the severity of the injury. 

Waynesburg held its lead for most of the first half, until W&J’s Lexey Finney tied it in the 38th minute. That was all the scoring for each team on the night. 

W&J outshot the Jackets 20-14 total, and 9-7 in shots on net. Freshman goalkeeper Autumn Blair had another strong performance for Waynesburg, saving eight shots, while Shayla Watkins of the Presidents had six stops. 

Heethuis was pleased with Blair’s performance, especially considering she’s still recovering from a hamstring injury. 

“She’s still kind of getting over a hamstring pull, so cold days are a little more difficult for her…” Heethuis said. “We have to do a little better defensively being able to use her and play her. I think too often we give the ball away too quickly and not realize that she’s an option.”

Waynesburg’s next game is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday against Westminster at John F. Wiley Stadium.

 Defensively, Heethuis said, there have been issues, as teams are able to capitalize on the chances Waynesburg gives them, however limited those chances may be. 

“Still defensively, we’re doing pretty well,” she said. “We’re limiting chances. The few chances teams are getting, they’re finishing. We’re getting a few chances ourselves, but we’re not finishing. So for us, we have to find some goals early on rather than let them be in there… We just have to find a way to create some goals and be dangerous up front.”