The Case Western women’s soccer team, who went 1-2 over the past two weeks, looks to finish strong in UAA play.

After two losses on the road against Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Chicago, the Spartans started a two-game home stand with a strong win versus Denison. The team is looking to build off the win, which places them a game above .500, to gain momentum and head into the end of the season.

The Spartans started their road trip last week against nationally ranked Washington University in St. Louis. The powerhouse, losing two to nothing, blanked the Spartans. Washington scored once in both halves. The Spartans battled back for the rest of the game but were unable to break through. Washington commanded the game with a 14 shot advantage. Despite giving up two goals, the defense played well, with keeper Abbey Smith making seven saves, a season high.

In their final road game of the season, the Spartans traveled to the windy city to play the University of Chicago. Case Western fell against the Maroons by a score of one to nothing, making their current UAA conference record 0-3-1. In another close game, the Spartans failed to find the back of the Chicago net despite strong play. The Maroons score the only goal while the Spartan defense had another strong match and Smith tied her season high saves tally from two days before with seven saves between the posts. “We just need to find more consistency,” coach Tiffany Crooks said, “I’m happy that we are competitive, but we’re striving to get the breakthrough goal and win those games.”

The team returned home to Case to regain their footing. They found their hold in dramatic fashion with lead of senior co-captain Leah Levey. The game gave the Spartans a 2-1 victory in their non-conference finale.

Jessie Sabers scored the Spartans’ first goal in the 12th minute of the match. Sabers collected a cross from Levey and fired the ball past the outstretched arms of the Denison keeper into the bottom corner. The lead held fast until fifteen minutes into the second half, when Big Red found the equalizer on a low cross which was poked in by a sliding Jessica Skelly to beat Smith. The two teams battled back and forth until Levey’s heroic goal in the last 2:41 in the game gave the Spartans the victory. “All wins create momentum. We’re hoping to ride that performance into this weekend’s games,” Crooks said.

Case Western will continue its home stand for the rest of the season when they play Carnegie Mellon Friday night at home. The Spartans will look for their first win of UAA play and look to keep momentum and finish the season strong.