By Laura Soukkavong –
ITHACA, N.Y. — For more than 53 minutes Saturday afternoon, Katie Adiletta’s right foot had given WPI exactly what it needed. The Engineers had the lead on the road, had survived Ithaca’s first-half pressure and were trying to turn one spectacular goal into their first victory of the season.
Then the afternoon changed. Ithaca scored twice in a span of less than 11 minutes during the second half, erasing WPI’s advantage and handing the Engineers a difficult 2-1 loss at Carp Wood Field.
The defeat dropped WPI to 0-2, while Ithaca improved to 2-0. For the Engineers, it was a match defined by how long they protected a one-goal advantage and how quickly that advantage disappeared once the Bombers finally broke through.
WPI’s goal arrived in the 17th minute, and it required no elaborate buildup near the Ithaca goal. Katie Adiletta took matters into her own hands from more than 25 yards away on the left side and unleashed a long-range strike that found the upper portion of the net at 16:51.
It was the kind of goal capable of changing an entire match. Ithaca had the greater volume of first-half opportunities, but WPI had the one shot that mattered most, and Adiletta’s finish gave the Engineers a 1-0 advantage to defend.
The Bombers finished the opening half with an 11-6 advantage in total shots, but that number did not translate into the same advantage in shots on goal. Both teams put two attempts on frame, leaving WPI with a significant reason to feel good about how it had handled Ithaca’s pressure.
Ayla Verheul and the WPI defense had kept the Bombers off the scoreboard, while the Engineers had made one of their opportunities count. At the other end, Ithaca goalkeeper Katrina Varnum made two saves to prevent WPI from adding to its advantage.
That left the Engineers leading 1-0 at halftime despite being outshot by five. It also established the challenge for the second half, because WPI had already seen enough of Ithaca’s attack to know the Bombers were unlikely to stop pressing for an equalizer.
For much of the second half, the Engineers continued to protect what Katie Adiletta had given them. The clock moved through the 50th minute, then the 60th, and WPI remained in front as the possibility of leaving Ithaca with its first victory grew closer.
A one-goal lead, however, provides almost no room for a mistake or an unfortunate turn. One moment can erase an afternoon’s worth of defensive work, and in the 71st minute Ithaca finally found that moment.
The Bombers were awarded a penalty kick, and Zara Nourie converted it at 70:02 to tie the match 1-1. WPI had protected its lead for more than 53 minutes after Katie Adiletta’s goal, but the match was suddenly even again with nearly 20 minutes remaining.
The significance of the penalty kick went beyond the tying goal. WPI was no longer protecting an advantage and could no longer rely on one first-half strike being enough to carry the Engineers through the afternoon.
Now the match had effectively started over, except Ithaca had momentum and the remaining time was disappearing. WPI needed either to restore its lead or withstand the Bombers long enough to preserve the draw.
Ithaca needed only 10 minutes, 56 seconds to strike again. At 80:58, Ellie Scivetti provided the assist and Mia Medearis found the back of the net, giving the Bombers their first lead of the match.
That sequence completely reversed the afternoon for WPI. The Engineers had gone from leading 1-0 deep into the second half to trailing 2-1 with fewer than 10 minutes remaining.
It also demonstrated the danger of trying to protect a narrow advantage against a team continuing to generate opportunities. Ithaca had produced 11 first-half shots without scoring, but the Bombers never stopped creating enough pressure to give themselves a chance to change the result.
WPI still had time to answer, and the Engineers continued searching for the equalizer. They generated second-half opportunities, but Katrina Varnum made two more saves to keep WPI from producing the goal that could have rescued the match.
Varnum finished with four saves overall. WPI put five shots on goal during the afternoon, meaning the Engineers were not without legitimate opportunities to score beyond Katie Adiletta’s first-half strike.
The larger problem was that WPI could not find the second goal. With only a 1-0 advantage, the Engineers remained vulnerable to exactly the kind of second-half response Ithaca eventually produced.
The final statistics reflected a match in which Ithaca had more of the overall attacking opportunities but did not overwhelm WPI in shots on target. The Bombers finished with a 17-10 advantage in shots, yet WPI actually held a 5-4 edge in shots on goal.
That distinction matters when examining the result. Ithaca took seven more shots, but WPI forced Katrina Varnum to make four saves while Ayla Verheul finished with two for the Engineers.
The Bombers also held a 6-4 advantage in corner kicks, another indication of the pressure WPI had to absorb. The Engineers managed that pressure successfully for much of the match, but ultimately needed more than one goal to survive it.
Sarah Frye was WPI’s most frequent shooter with three attempts, including two on goal. Katie Adiletta and Eleni Pantzer each recorded two shots, giving the Engineers several different sources of offensive activity.
For Katie Adiletta, the opening goal provided WPI with the kind of individual moment that can steal a road match. A strike from more than 25 yards out requires the ability and confidence to recognize an opportunity before a defense can eliminate it, and her finish gave the Engineers a lead they carried all the way into the 71st minute.
The disappointment for WPI is that such a goal ultimately became part of a loss rather than the defining moment of a victory. The Engineers had done the difficult part by scoring first on the road and then protecting that advantage through halftime and well into the second half.
What they could not do was find the insurance goal. A second WPI score would have forced Ithaca to overcome a two-goal deficit, but at 1-0 every Bombers attack carried the possibility of changing the match immediately.
That is precisely what happened when Zara Nourie converted the penalty kick. Once the equalizer arrived, the pressure shifted, and Mia Medearis’ goal less than 11 minutes later completed a comeback that had seemed increasingly unlikely as WPI continued protecting its first-half lead.
There is also a difficult lesson in the final shot totals. WPI put a higher percentage of its attempts on goal than Ithaca did, but the Bombers’ persistence gave them enough opportunities to eventually find the two finishes they needed.
The Engineers can take something from their ability to withstand that pressure for more than two-thirds of the match. They can also take something from generating five shots on goal despite Ithaca’s advantage in total attempts, but an 0-2 start leaves little satisfaction in statistical encouragement alone.
WPI now has to find a way to turn competitive stretches into a complete result. The Engineers had the lead Saturday, had a goalkeeper and defense that kept Ithaca scoreless throughout the first half and had enough offensive opportunities to make Katrina Varnum work five times.
What they did not have was a second goal, and that left the door open. Ithaca eventually walked through it twice.
The turnaround comes quickly for WPI, which remains in Central New York and travels to Cortland for a noon match Sunday. There is little time to dwell on how Saturday’s lead disappeared, because another opportunity arrives less than 24 hours later.
For the Engineers, the task against Cortland begins with carrying forward what worked against Ithaca while correcting what ultimately cost them. WPI has shown it can take a lead on the road and defend it for a long stretch, but Saturday demonstrated how unforgiving that one-goal margin can become.
Katie Adiletta gave WPI the moment it needed in the first half. Ithaca simply found two of its own in the second, and ten minutes were enough to turn what looked increasingly like WPI’s first victory into its second loss.
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