From Sept. 21, 2022

WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Sept. 21) – It’s that time of year again: conference games in women’s soccer have begun as the Waynesburg University Yellow Jackets hosted the Franciscan Barons in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference matchup.

Franciscan ultimately came out with the win over Waynesburg 2-0.

“We expected a tough team,” Waynesburg head coach George DeAugustino said. “We expected exactly what we saw tonight. [A] team that has some dynamic players up top that can put the ball in the back of the net.”

Those players from Franciscan were senior midfielder Bella Rubino and freshman midfielder Mary Wieszczek. Rubino scored 36 minutes into the game for the first goal for the Baron, her fourth of the year. Wieszczek scored 61 minutes in for the first goal of her collegiate career.

In total, Franciscan took 31 shots with 15 on goal. Waynesburg shot three times through the entire game, and all of them were on goal: two by senior midfielder Sarah Rentler and one by sophomore forward Brooklyn Loveland.

Senior goalkeeper Autumn Blair started in net for Waynesburg and grabbed 10 saves on 12 shots on goal. She played 71 minutes before senior Kennedy Schuck substituted for her.

“I just know that I need to come up and make big saves,” Blair said. “So that my team can come up and do their job. Staying positive and just knowing that to go for every ball and to try for every single ball, I think is what I try to keep in front of me each time they go up to take a shot at me because I know my team’s counting on me”

Waynesburg (2-4-1, 0-1) has lost three in a row since their shutout win against Mount Aloysius. The team travels to Chatham (4-2-1, 0-0-1) Saturday as the conference schedule continues.

“Losses are tough,” Blair said. “But I know this team is resilient. And I know that this doesn’t define us. And so I’m looking forward to the rest of the season because I know we can bounce back from this.”