Women's Soccer | 9/6/2009 3:43:34 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT women's soccer team (0-1-1) rallied from a 2-0, second half deficit to earn a hard-fought, 2-2 draw against John Carroll University (0-2-1) in the consolation match of the 2009 Rachel Miller Memorial Tournament held at RIT Field on Sunday.  Later in the afternoon, SUNY Cortland, led by Tournament Most Outstanding Player Bridgette DeSantis, defeated Ramapo 3-0 to claim the Rachel Miller Memorial Tournament Championship.

In game one, John Carroll got on the board first in the opening minute of the second half, as Caitlyn Walton ripped a free kick from 30-yards out that just went over the out-stretched arm of RIT goalkeeper Ashley Valenti (Honeoye Falls, NY/Honeoye Falls-Lima) and into the upper left corner of the goal.

Just over two minutes later, Walton struck again to give the Blue Streaks a 2-0 lead. Once again, she struck a free kick from nearly an identical location, this time beating Valenti with a low, hard shot just inside the right post.

The Tigers cut John Carroll's lead in half in the 73rd minute, as freshmen Katie Higgins (North Tonawanda, NY/Niagara Wheatfield) scored her first collegiate goal. Junior defender Sarah Frisicano (Rochester, NY/Greece Olympia) took a free kick from just inside midfield that bounced to Higgins standing just inside the penalty area. Higgins corralled the pass, made a move on a defender and slipped a shot past John Carroll goalkeeper Molly Gradowski.

Junior midfielder Kendra Shelters (Lyons, NY/Lyons) lofted a perfectly placed shot over the jump of Gradowski with just 4:37 left in regulation to tie the game at 2. Shelters received a pass from freshman Ashlene Potter (Rotterdam, NY/Schalmont) in the middle of the field and scored from about 25-yards out.

RIT out-shot John Carroll 16-15.  Valenti made eight saves for RIT, while Gradowski stopped six shots for John Carroll.

Valenti came up huge in the first overtime, robbing Caroline McGraw from in close, then stopping the rebound from Laura Nowicki. A minute later, Shelters centered a pass for RIT that eluded several players in front, and just missed the net.

In the second overtime, Valenti once again saved RIT, leaping to rob Amanda Buxton's header from in front on a corner kick.

Neither team generated great scoring chances in the first half, as most of the play occurred in the midfield area.

John Carroll's Rachel Grdina had a golden opportunity late in the half, as she collected a pass about 35-yards out and appeared to be past two RIT defenders for a breakaway, but lost control of the ball as she was in the clear.