After an unsuccessful five-game road trip, the women’s soccer team came into Saturday’s homecoming game trying to right its ship against Amherst, a team that has lost only once all season. Although the Cards played well, the Lady Jeffs defeated the squad 3-0 while out-shooting Wesleyan 18-7. The Red and Black dropped to 3-11 (1-7 NESCAC) on the year, but can take solace in the fact that the win at Springfield on Oct. 7 gave the Birds their first three-win campaign since 1998.
The entire contest was marked by physical play by both sides; the players launched themselves toward the checkered spheroid with reckless abandon. Amherst often had the ball deep in the Cardinal zone, but thanks in part to timely defensive plays by Corinne Case ’05 and Laura Fine ’08, the scoreboard read zeros for a long stretch of time. When the Cards managed to escape their zone, the Jeffs pulled a stunt to force the ball out off a Wesleyan player’s foot or leave a Cardinal on the ground and free the ball for theft, such as when Delia Mueller ’07 was tackled from the side in the first half. Less than a minute after this incident, Amherst’s Leslie Curren found an opening in the defense through which Adrienne Showler fed a cross-field pass that was deflected past Kelly McFarling ’05 for the 1-0 advantage.
Wesleyan had the opportunity to gain the upper hand when Amherst’s Jenny Muller got flagged for a yellow card after kicking a ball in frustration over a foul, but the offense was unable to capitalize. Although Amherst remained a fixture in the Cardinal zone, the Cards seemed to play with more energy, deflecting several passes. McFarling came up with save after save, ten in all on the chilly afternoon. The visiting squad had a chance to double its lead with a penalty shot following a questionable foul on Elizabeth Langston ’06, but the ensuing kick hit the post, preserving the score at the time. The Birds had one golden opportunity to tie the game late in the first half, but Jaime Wendel ’07 kick hit the side of the net and the score remained 1-0 at the break.
“Our main deficiency is our lack of speed,” said Coach Eva Bergsten-Meredith, citing one reason for the lack of scoring. “Teams are usually overall faster than us.”
McFarling started the second half with three more stops from short range and converted a corner kick that deflected off her hands into the net. Down 2-0, the Cards began speeding up and had a great chance to cut the deficit in half, but they tripped in maneuvering around the ball. They played more in the Amherst end, but like the Jeffs fell victim to intense defensive play. About midway through the half, the large crowd saw Danielle Crystal ’07 head the ball past the Amherst netminder to apparently move Wesleyan within one, but the ball actually sailed over the crossbar and the score held at 2-0. Minutes later, the Lady Jeffs scored for the second time in the half, the final tally for either team. The Red and Black continued to play aggressively in the hopes of coming back from three down but too often sent the ball wide once they had penetrated the offensive zone.
“Once we got some momentum going, they came back and scored a goal,” Bergsten-Meredith said. “We kept playing hard but couldn’t finish our chances.”
Both teams and the crowd had a feeling of trepidation in the closing moments as Caitlin Herlihy ’06 crumpled to the ground after the ball hit her in the left shoulder. She rose a few minutes later to applause and remained on the field, continuing to play as if nothing had happened.
The Cardinals play their final regular season contest Saturday at home against NESCAC rival Bowdoin.