Mount St. Mary’s earns first positive result of season with scoreless draw against Richmond
Mount St. Mary’s women’s soccer finally broke through into the result column Sunday afternoon, battling an unbeaten Richmond team to a 0-0 draw at Waldron Family Stadium in Emmitsburg.
The draw moved the Mountaineers to 0-4-1 and gave them their first positive result of the 2026 season. Richmond moved to 2-0-2 and remained unbeaten through its first four matches.
For a Mount team that had endured four consecutive losses to open the year, this was an important step forward — and it came against a Richmond side that entered the day playing some of its best soccer.
Mount starts strong
Mount St. Mary’s controlled much of the opening half.
The Mountaineers did not allow Richmond to record a shot until the 39th minute and finished the first half with a 5-1 advantage in shots. Richmond goalkeeper Veronica Rrapi had to make two early saves, stopping Mount attempts in the eighth and 10th minutes.
Lillian Young produced the first dangerous chance of the afternoon, getting a shot through traffic in the opening seven minutes before Rrapi made the save.
Erin Antone also put a shot on target and finished as Mount St. Mary’s leading shot taker.
The Mount could not convert one of those early opportunities, but its ability to dictate the first half was a major improvement after allowing 18 shots in its previous match against George Mason.
Makela and the defense hold firm
Richmond became much more aggressive after halftime.
The Spiders outshot Mount St. Mary’s 9-5 during the second half, with nine of Richmond’s 10 total shots coming after the break.
Mount goalkeeper Abby Makela handled the pressure.
Makela faced 10 shots overall and made two saves to record the clean sheet. She received plenty of help from a defensive group that included Payton Meara, Addy Gallagher, Molly Gannon and Jessica Ras.
That back line consistently kept Richmond’s attempts away from dangerous areas and prevented a Spiders offense that had scored three times against Queens one week earlier from finding the net. Richmond’s Morgane Zinn had scored twice in that 3-0 victory.
Mount St. Mary’s also generated three corner kicks and finished with 10 shots of its own, giving each team 10 attempts for the afternoon.
A significant turnaround
The result becomes more meaningful when considering how Mount St. Mary’s began the season.
The Mountaineers opened with a 3-1 loss at UMBC, followed by a 2-0 home loss to Towson. They then suffered an 8-1 defeat at Bucknell before showing improvement in a 4-2 loss at George Mason.
Against George Mason, Aayla Burgo scored her first career goal while Caoume Valle collected her first career assist. Makela made eight saves in that game, bringing her season total to 26 entering Sunday.
The Richmond match was the first time this season Mount St. Mary’s kept an opponent off the scoreboard.
That alone represents progress.
More importantly, the Mount did it against a Richmond club that entered the game 2-0-1 after victories over Wofford and Queens and a draw against American.
Mount earns first result against Richmond in nearly three decades
Sunday was also a rare meeting between the programs.
Mount St. Mary’s and Richmond had not played since 1997. The Spiders won the first two meetings between the schools, taking a 1-0 decision in 1996 before winning 5-2 the following season.
That makes Sunday’s draw the first time Mount St. Mary’s has avoided defeat against Richmond.
It also snapped the Mountaineers’ four-game losing streak to begin the season.
Richmond, meanwhile, extended its unbeaten start to four matches — the longest unbeaten run to open a season in program history.
Conference play comes next
The Mount now turns its attention toward MAAC competition.
Mount St. Mary’s travels to New Rochelle, New York, Saturday, Sept. 5, to face Iona at 11 a.m.
That match begins a conference schedule that will ultimately determine whether the Mountaineers can turn Sunday’s defensive breakthrough into sustained momentum.
After Iona, Mount St. Mary’s returns home Sept. 12 to face Quinnipiac before traveling to Saint Peter’s on Sept. 19.
MSB Take
This may only be a draw in the standings, but for Mount St. Mary’s this feels much more significant than one point.
The Mountaineers entered Sunday 0-4 and had allowed 17 goals through their first four matches. They needed something positive before conference play started, and shutting out an unbeaten Richmond team is exactly that.
The biggest difference was the defense.
Mount St. Mary’s had allowed George Mason to take 18 shots and Bucknell had put eight goals on the board earlier in the season. Against Richmond, the Mount did not even allow a shot for nearly 40 minutes and kept the Spiders from creating many truly dangerous opportunities.
Makela deserves credit, but this was not simply a goalkeeper stealing a result. The players in front of her defended well enough that she only needed two saves despite Richmond taking 10 shots.
That is encouraging.
The offense still needs to find more consistency. Mount St. Mary’s generated 10 shots but could not turn its chances into a goal. Against MAAC opponents, the Mount will need to finish some of those opportunities if it wants to start collecting wins instead of draws.
Still, there is a major difference between entering conference play after five straight losses and entering it after holding an unbeaten opponent scoreless.
Mount St. Mary’s finally has something to build on.
Now the challenge is turning Sunday’s progress into the first victory of the season.
