The game went straight to the end as the women’s soccer team lost a close one, 2-1, to the Rhode Island Rams last Thursday.

After having four tough losses on the road in September, UVM came back home for the first time since August 30.

“It’s nice to be back. We’ve been on turf for a while so we have to get used to being on grass again,” senior goalkeeper Eliza Bradley said. “It’s always good to have the home fans with us.”

Even though they had been playing on turf for a while, they seemed right at home despite the Rams scoring first.

Rhode Island’s goal came in the 23rd minute after the Rams’ Kaylen Shimoda broke away on the left side flicking the ball into the top half of the goal above Bradley’s arms.

That goal was the only one that snuck past Bradley in the first half as she made many impressive saves.

However, the UVM offense was also silenced until 81 minutes into the game.  A pass from freshman Megan Rozumalski put the ball in range enabling charging junior Gabby Bongfigli to slip the ball past the goalkeeper just before colliding with her.

“We’ve been working those runs for the past two weeks and it was finally a positive result,” Bongfigli said.  “I just ran to it and was in the right place at the right time.”

The tie score did not last long though, as the Rams sealed the game with a goal by Kristie Moltz in the 82nd minute.

Despite the loss, head coach Kwame Lloyd was impressed with the effort by his team.

“I  thought our character really showed in this game,” Lloyd said. “We didn’t come out as well as we wanted to, but we persevered and got back into the game and tied it in the second half.”

Lloyd was especially pleased with the performance of the younger players on the team.  After a slow first half, he chose to start the second half with some new faces.

“Our young players were out there for a lot of the game and they did well,” Lloyd said. “So I think our future is bright.”

Not only did the younger players perform well but Bradley showed why she is approaching multiple individual records in the net.  She did not seem to be affected by the pressure of milestones and was focused only on the potential of the team.

“Individual records are awesome but I think the team’s success is the best thing I can ask for,” Bradley said. “Every day I’m just trying to do everything I can to help us win.”

Bongfigli said that keeping momentum after they score will help the team pull out more victories.