BALTIMORE, Md. -- The No. 16 University of Scranton women's soccer team (0-0-1) battled Widener (0-0-1) to a scoreless draw in the 2023 season opener for both teams on Friday night at Homewood Field in Baltimore on the campus of Johns Hopkins University.
This marked the sixth all-time meeting between the two programs and the first since 2000.
Senior Mary Haggerty (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) recorded an early chance for the Royals in the third minute, but her shot was turned away by Widener goalie Samantha Coon. Scranton tallied six shots over the first 17 plus minutes of the game and things remained scoreless despite the chances. Haggerty threatened again in the 30th minute as Coon made three more saves in the final 15 minutes of the half and Royals' junior goalie Nicole Olson (Stoughton, Mass./Ursuline Academy) made a save of her own in the 36th minute to keep things deadlocked at zero.
The Royals continued to mount the pressure offensively in the early stages of the second half including a trio of shots from sophomore Morgan Griffin (Sea Cliff, N.Y./North Shore) and Coon made five saves in a 10-minute span culminating in the 62nd minute. Olson then denied the Pride's Kelly Barr in the 65th minute as things remained scoreless.
Head coach Colleen Pivirotto's team held a 24-2 shot advantage in the contest and Olson tallied a pair of saves in net, while Coon recorded 10 saves for Widener.
Griffin paced the Royals with five shots in the contest and Haggerty and senior Niamh Healy (Orangeburg, N.Y./Tappan Zee)Â added four apiece.
Scranton is back in action on Sunday afternoon against defending national champion and No. 1 Johns Hopkins with action at Homewood Field set to get underway at 2:30 p.m.
--ROYALS--
