September 23, 2012
GOAL AVALANCHE
DePaul routs Pitt 4-0

CHICAGO – An avalanche of second-half goals by DePaul buried Pittsburgh 4-0 Sunday at Wish Field in a Big East Conference match.

A three-goal barrage began with Ashleigh Goddard’s header inside the box after assists from Rebekah Roller and Brianna Ryce in the 56th minute.

Three minutes and 11 seconds later, Elise Wyatt scored her first collegiate goal after a Roller corner kick and a Natasa Radosavljevic pass.

Just 49 seconds later, Wyatt struck again with a tap into the net after Radosavljevic’s second assist of the day.

Coming full circle, Goddard closed out the scoring with a rebound goal off an Erin Pekovitch shot in the 71st minute for her third score of the season.

“It was an adrenaline rush after Ashleigh scored the first goal,” Wyatt said. “After the first goal, it was all a blur.

“My first goal, I remember our coaches telling me to stay at the far post on corner kicks. The ball came to me and I just flicked it in.

“The second goal, there was a fumble by the defense and I was open. Tina (assistant coach Tina Estrada) has been telling me to stay under control. I gave it a toe poke into the back of the net. If I had hit it hard, I would’ve shanked it wide.”

DePaul improved to 7-4-1 overall and 2-1-0 in conference while Pitt fell to 5-7-1, 0-3-1.

Goddard opened the scoring with a heads-up move for her second goal of the season.

“I was darting in to the far post, and when the ball went up in the air, I saw the goalkeeper’s hands next to me,” Goddard said. “I was able to jump up and get it in.

“My second goal, Erin got off a good shot and the ball came right to my feet. It was an easy tap-in.”

Blue Demon coach Erin Chastain was pleased with her team’s overall effort.

“For the first time this season, I felt every person on the team stepped up right from the start,” Chastain said. “We dominated the game from the get-go and scored some great goals in the second half.

“I thought Elise and Brianna (combined for nine shots with four on goal) did well up top and both played their best games since they’ve been here. Erin Pekovitch---the whole group played well.”

The Blue Demons outshot Pitt 23-6 and had a resounding 14-3 advantage in shots on goal.

DePaul returns to action on Friday with a Big East match at Connecticut.