The women’s soccer team was unable to grab a win in a pair of University Athletic Association games this past weekend, but walked away with a close loss and a tie against two of the top-10 teams in the country.

The Judges welcomed No. 5 Carnegie Mellon University on Friday evening and were handed a 1-0 loss before fighting to a 1-1 draw with No. 9 Emory University Sunday afternoon on Gordon Field.

“This game was important to us and we wanted to walk off the field knowing we had no regrets,” said defender Corrine Bortniker ’15. 

“With this mind set we were able to capitalize on the opportunity that was presented to us and come up with the draw.”

The squad moves to 11-3-1 overall on the year but sits 1-2-1 in UAA play.

Sunday’s matchup with the visiting Eagles nearly went into the halftime break scoreless, but Emory found a last-minute goal to gain the upper hand on the Judges. Emory freshman forward Melinda Altamore struck a long shot from 35 yards out that fooled goalkeeper Michelle Savuto ’15 and had to be picked out of the net with just 41.2 seconds remaining in the first half. 

Though the Judges entered the second half down 1-0 they controlled play for most of the half, outshooting the visitors 7-2 and conceding just one corner-kick. The Judges’ defense did not allow Emory a shot over a 20-minute stretch during the first half, during which the Judges attempted fours shots of their own and controlled play from the midfield.

The squad had their best chance to grab a lead in the 21st minute when forward Samantha Schwartz ’18 blasted a shot from 20 yards out that sailed just inches over the crossbar.

Schwartz attempted just one other shot on net for the rest of the game but made it count, netting the equalizer in the 85th minute.

Schwartz’s goal, her eighth of the season, came off a counter-attacking run by the Judges that saw Bortniker cross the ball to midfielder Melissa Darling ’16 just inside the 18-yard box. Darling sped around an Emory defenseman to get control of the ball back after the Emory defensman got the first touch and passed the ball to Schwartz in the middle of the six-yard box. Schwartz found the equalizer by chipping over the Emory goalkeeper.

“I know that [Darling] is incredibly fast and she would be able to create space between her and the defender,” said Bortniker. “[Schwartz] and I made runs into the box and [she] was able to finish the cross from [Darling] with the goal.”

Neither team was able to produce quality chances during the two overtime periods—Emory’s two shots of the first overtime were the only shots by both teams in either period—as the Judges were left to walk away from their final home game of the year on level terms with the visitors.

Although the squad was again locked in a defensive struggle on Friday night, the Judges were handed their third loss of the season by the visiting Tartans.

Carnegie took the matchup of two of the top defenses in Division III in a game that came down to the wire Friday night on Gordon Field. Carnegie, 24th across Division III in goals-against average, had allowed just five goals all year entering the contest, while the Judges entered the contest 15th in the same category with four goals allowed this year.

The Judges nearly grabbed a first-half lead over the fifth-ranked team in the country when forward Holly Szafran ’16 launched a long free kick from more than 25 yards out that Carnegie sophomore goalkeeper bobbled before corralling the save. 

Szafran once again almost struck from a set piece in the 73rd minute when she blasted a shot from 25 yards out that was caught by the leaping Carnegie goalkeeper. 

With time winding down, Carnegie junior midfielder Carson Quiros gave the Tartans a lead they would not relinquish to the hosts. 

Quiros buried a header off the Tartans’ fifth corner of the day, sending the visitors home with a 1-0 win in a defensive showdown. 

The goal was Carnegie’s first shot in nearly 10 minutes of play and just their second on target in the half, but was placed just far enough out of reach to gain control of the game. 

Carnegie controlled the shot total 10-7 for the game, including a 6-2 shot advantage during the first half, but both teams managed to put only four shots on target. 

Savuto finished with a lone save for the contest and was charged with the loss, while goalkeeper Alexis Grossman ’17 saved all three shots she faced during the first half.

The Judges return to action on Friday, Oct. 31 at No. 2 Washington University in St. Louis in the opening game of their season-ending three-game road trip.