Tennessee Wesleyan Outlasts Furious Women's Soccer Comeback Attempt

By Mike DeVader, Reinhardt Director of Athletic Communications & Media

WALESKA, Ga. – A valiant comeback attempt in the final minutes fell just short for Reinhardt on Wednesday evening after the Eagles couldn't get a third goal to drop over the last 90 seconds in a narrow 3-2 defeat at the hands of Tennessee Wesleyan.
 
"We did a lot of things well this afternoon, created a lot of chances and scored a couple of nice goals," head coach Andy Kaplan said. "At this point in time we are making a few mistakes at critical times and not taking full advantage of the times we force our opponents into mistakes. I firmly believe our team can develop into one of the best teams I have coached at Reinhardt. A few small adjustments and improvements, we will come out on top in these close games."
 
The hometown team had a total of 27 shots, outnumbering the Bulldogs by 19 in that category, before finding the back of the net twice in the final 15 minutes.
 
Reinhardt kept Tennessee Wesleyan to eight attempts on-goal, but Chloe Rootes singlehandedly carried the team with a hat trick (9:11; 38:08; 51:05) with a pair of goals in the first half followed by another tally in the opening minutes of the second period to seize all the game's momentum.
 
The Eagles would continue to grind, however, and get the energy train rolling after Adrien Merrilles got her club on the scoreboard at the 75:02 mark before hitting another shot just over seven minutes later to put all the pressure back on the visitors.
 
Over the final seven plus-minutes, Reinhardt (4-4-1, 2-1-1 Appalachian Athletic Conference) have chances time after time to tie the score with the Bulldogs on their heels – it just didn't work out.
 
Brianna Smotherman (7) and Merrilles (8) combined for more than half of their teams attempts on the night.
 
The squad looks to bounce back on the road at St. Andrews (N.C.) on Saturday afternoon.
 
Kick is set for 1 p.m.
 
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