The Waynesburg University women’s soccer team concluded their 2017 season at Washington & Jefferson this past Saturday. The Yellow Jackets fell to the Presidents by a score of 5-0.

W&J took the lead a little over five minutes into play when senior forward Jordan Toohey netted a goal. Not long after, the team found the back of the net again in the 10th minute of play after junior midfielder Brianna Floryshak scored.

Waynesburg looked to be in some trouble when the third goal of the half went in for W&J. Senior midfielder and forward Ashton Grimm found twine on an assist from Toohey.

Waynesburg went into halftime down 3-0 to one of its PAC rival. According to senior defender Sam Nichols, a lack of communication highlighted the rough first half.

“It was little mistakes that we made while playing,” said Nichols. “Playing as a team starts with communicating and working your butt off for each other.”

W&J has always been one of the biggest rivals to Waynesburg, according to head coach Laura Heethuis, so she said these games are always important.

“W&J is a rival and those games always add a little bit of emotions and fire you up,” said head coach Laura Heethuis.

The Waynesburg defense was able to buckle down and keep the score at 3-0 throughout the second half until the 85th minute in hopes that the offense could get something going, but the task proved to be too tall to overcome in the match.

The Presidents scored the game’s two final goals in less than a minute and a half.

“We are certainly disappointed in the result,” said Heethuis. “They have a few girls up top that are high caliber players and we did not defend them well enough on the day as a team.”

A few of W&J’s standout players are Toohey and senior forward Tatiana Ruzzini. Toohey has a team high 18 goals on the season and Ruzzini has a team high 15 assists on the year.

The Yellow Jackets were out shot on the night 19-3. Of the Presidents’ 19 shots, eight were on frame and only three were saved, while the Yellow Jackets put two shots on the net.

Both shots on goal were from Nichols in her final collegiate soccer game. Also, senior goalkeeper Heather Fraser started and played all 90 minutes of the game with three saves.

Although the season didn’t go as expected, Heethuis said there is a lot to look forward to in the upcoming years. There is a lot of young talent that got to see the field this year, including sophomore goalie Courtney Syfert, who started most games this season when healthy.

“We have a great foundation within this program and girls that are beginning to understand more and more what amount of commitment, dedication and sacrifice is needed to win and be successful,” said Heethuis.