Sittko, 'Cats Nearly Pull Off Comeback at Virginia Tech, 3-2

Sunday, September 20

Blacksburg, Va.

5:00 p.m.

Davidson College

Virginia Tech

Photo by: WG Sports, Willis Glassgow

Sittko, 'Cats Nearly Pull Off Comeback at Virginia Tech, 3-2

9/20/2009 8:05:11 PM | Women's Soccer

Gavin McFarlin - Assistant SID

Box Score

BLACKSBURG, Va. — The Hokies' Kelly Conheeney's two goals overshadowed the Davidson women's soccer team's valiant second-half comeback attempt led by Suzanne Sittko's (Greenwood Village, Colo.) goal and assist as the Wildcats fell just short in a 3-2 non-conference affair at Virginia Tech on Sunday evening at Thompson Field.

Davidson (3-6-0), which came back from a 2-0 deficit on Friday night at Richmond before falling 3-2, nearly erased a 3-0 deficit in second half behind the strong play of Sittko.

The Wildcats kept battling away and finally broke up the shut in the 71st minute behind Sittko's 17th career goal. Fellow senior Kyri Bye-Nagel (Hanau, Germany) stole a pass by the Tech defense, dribbling the ball down the middle where she fed a pass to Sittko on the right side. Sittko raced past her defender into the box and drilled a shot to the far left post for her first score of the year.

Sittko struck again, this time setting up the Wildcats' second goal at the 78:50 mark. After a foul gave the Wildcats a free kick on their side of the field, they worked the ball down to Tech's territory on the near side where Sophie Newsom (Atlanta, Ga.) fed a great ball into Sittko, just a few feet from the left corner of the 18-yard box. The senior shielded off her defender, gathering in the ball and then passing it back behind to a wide open Rachael Newmister (Clover, S.C.), who chipped a perfectly placed shot to the top shelf over the Virginia Tech goalkeeper from about 25 yards out for her second goal of the season to bring the 'Cats within one at 3-2.

Davidson continued to push in the last 10 minutes to get a few more opportunities, but Virginia Tech (6-2-0) halted the Wildcats last efforts in holding on for the win.

The Wildcats were looking to carry over their momentum from a year ago when they took a 2-1 season-opening win over the Hokies, but Virginia Tech halted that seven minutes into the game when it struck for the first score in an unconventional way. The Hokies had a throw-in on the far sideline near the goal line, that was sent into the six-yard box by Julian Johnson and untouched as it bounced once before finding the back of the net.

Virginia Tech continued to press the 'Cat defense, but the backline led by Amanda Flink (Houston, Texas), Louise Timboe (Littleton, Colo.) and Newsom along with goalkeeper Jessie Baxa (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) did not back down. The defense played shutout ball for the next 30 minutes, despite VT getting off 10 shots.

The Hokies broke through though, even after a solid save from Baxa in the 37th minute that resulted in a 2-0 Tech lead.

After a long feed on the far side to Conheeney of the Hokies, she gathered in the ball in the box and fired off a shot that Baxa made a diving stable at, coming up with the save. But, the rebound went right back to Conheeney who chipped it in to the near post for her fourth score of the year.

Conheeney added her second goal and the final Hokie score at the 52:31 mark of the game when she got a lead pass from Emily Jukich into the 18-yard box, dribbled past her defender and put a shot over Baxa for a 3-0 advantage.

Baxa finished with five saves between the pipes, while Virginia Tech's Kristin Carden earned four saves.

Tech held a 19-6 advantage in shots, while the Hokies also got four corners.

Davidson finalizes its five-game road swing next weekend, while also opening up Southern Conference play with contests at Western Carolina, Sept. 25 and Appalachian State, Sept. 27.

Scoring Summary
   7:27    VT     Julian Johnson (unassisted)
37:46     VT     Kelly Conheeney (unassisted)
52:31     VT     Kelly Conheeney (Emily Jukich)
71:18    DAV   Suzanne Sittko (1) (Kyri Bye-Nagel)
78:50    DAV   Rachel Newmister (2) (Suzanne Sittko)