A great performance of JCU Women’s 5vs5 Soccer team who faced Università Europea di Roma (UER), the current top team in the Universities of Rome Championship. Despite our Lady Gladiators dominated most of the game, it wasn’t enough to defeat the opponents who were able to perform a come back in the second half and win the game, 4-3.

UER took the lead for 1-0 after few minutes in the game, but JCU didn’t lose the focus and immediately scored back, tying the result thanks to a great goal by Stella. UER replied with another goal, taking the advantage again. However, this didn’t stop JCU from attacking and punching the opponents’ goal with two outstanding goals by Stackhouse. The first half closed with JCU advantage for 2-3.

In the second half, UER tried to press more, adopting a good offensive strategy that allowed the opponents to tie the result. Towards the end of the game, JCU defense dropped a little bit, and UER scored the winning goal, closing the game, 4-3.

“I knew it was a tough game. We played against a solid and strong team, but regardless of the result, we played an excellent game,” coach Farina commented. “We could have even won, but unfortunately we weren’t able to finalize all the opportunities we had to score contrary to UER. We need to work on this aspect and try to be more precise in front of the goal. But I’m confident that we will prove our value by winning the next games.”

The level of both teams was impressive, and they competitively battled on the field with character and high-quality soccer skills. Our Lady Gladiators did their best, but UER is a valid opponent who doesn’t allow for any distraction. A wrongly called-off goal by the referee for JCU and the numerous chances to score that our ladies had during the game ultimately turned into favorable situations for the opposing team to score.

Samantha Bane, our goalkeeper, also gave an excellent performance, saving the goal many times and showing good skills and confidence on the field.

We also had the chance to interview Matteo Anastasi, UER coach, who said, “It was a very exciting game open to any result until the last minutes. In the end, we took home the victory, but I want to congratulate to JCU because they played an amazing game.”

Good job, ladies! We know that this could have been an important win, but the road is long, and let’s go get a well-deserved victory in the next game!

MVP – Samantha Bane

NEXT GAME:
JCU vs PDG | Monday, March 2 | 9:30pm | Trastevere Stadium