The GW women’s soccer team lost both of its home games over the weekend and remains winless in the Atlantic 10 Conference. In a tough game against Xavier Friday, the Colonials lost 4-3 in sudden-death overtime. On Sunday, GW was shut out by Dayton, losing again 3-0.

A late first-half surge gave Dayton some insurance as they held off the Colonials 3-0. GW played strong defense until the 21st-minute mark, when Dayton’s Shannon Kuhl scored off Beth McHugh’s pass in the box for a 1-0 lead.

Dayton then scored two more goals with less than five minutes remaining in the half. With just five minutes remaining in the half, Dayton’s Tesia Kozlowski extended the Flyers’ 1-0 lead as she kicked the ball past GW goalkeeper Christine O’Malley into the top right corner of the net making it 2-1 Dayton.

Two minutes later Jessica Melvin, assisted by Megan McKnight, scored for Dayton to make it 3-0.

In the second half, GW tried to build a comeback but was never able to penetrate Dayton’s defense. The Flyers were dominant on both ends, taking 21 shots in the game while holding GW only took eight.

Friday’s game at home went to overtime before Xavier’s Lauren Giesting scored her third goal to give the Musketeers the 4-3 win in the 101st minute.

Both teams got the ball near the net early but failed to score in the opening minutes. The turning point in the first half came at the 7:46 mark, when Xavier goalkeeper Megan Veith fell awkwardly on her right arm after deflecting a shot and had to leave the game. Xavier had to rely on backup goalkeeper Andrea Garber for the rest of the half, and GW quickly took advantage. At the 13:07 mark, sophomore forward Kim Warner broke through the Musketeers’ defense and scored her sixth goal of the season, putting the Colonials ahead 1-0.

It took only 18 seconds for Xavier to strike back when Lauren Giesting put a loose ball past O’Malley to tie the game at 1-1.

Following a trend of trading goals throughout the game, GW scored again with 23:23 left in the first half. In a play similar to Xavier’s last goal, Erin Coppedge beat Xavier’s backup goalkeeper to a ball kicked into the box and kicked it in to give the Colonials a 2-1 lead.

With 11:58 left in the half, Xavier took advantage of a weak GW defense and Melissa Clavier scored from 20 feet away on the right side of the field. Going into halftime the score was tied at two.

In the second half, GW looked like it would take control of the game when freshman Meghan Cracker scored by kicking in a deflected ball at only 1:43 into the half. That goal gave GW a 3-2 lead but would be the last time the Colonials scored.

The Colonials’ defense allowed Xavier to control the ball for most of the remainder of the game. While O’Malley’s eight saves during the game prevented the Musketeers from capitalizing on the many offensive opportunities they had, Xavier still dominated the second half with 12 shots to GW’s three.

Xavier tied the game 3-3 with 26:33 remaining in regulation, as Giesting dribbled through the GW defense and scored her second goal of the game. The score remained tied as the second half came to a close, and the game went into sudden-death overtime.

Xavier continued to penetrate effectively, taking four shots while GW never struck. The fourth shot came in the 101st minute of the game when Giesting completed the hat trick, once again braking through the Colonials defense, winning the game for Xavier 4-3.

After the game, the Colonials sat on the field for nearly fifteen minutes and listened to head coach Tanya Vogel express her disappointment.

Addressing the team’s defensive woes, Vogel said it wasn’t just the team’s defenders that were responsible for their problems.

“Our team defending in general is not where it needs to be,” she said. “We need everyone to step it up and realize that they’re talented and that they belong out on the field.”

While Vogel downplayed the importance of the Xavier game, she said that it was important for her team to beat teams like Dayton in the A-10. “We need to now beat the teams that we are going to be competing with, and that includes Dayton but also Rhode Island, UMass, and La Salle,” she said. “Those games are going to be critical for us.”

The Colonials’ next game is Friday against conference rival Temple at the Mount Vernon field at 4 p.m.