The women’s soccer team failed to stop Salve Regina University’s potent offense in a 4-0 road loss on Wednesday, Sept. 18. Wesleyan fell to 0-2-1, while Salve Regina picked up its first win of the year.
Although Wes outshot Salve Regina 22-11 and earned eight corner kicks, compared to just one by the hosts, the Cardinals had trouble finishing and were unable to put anything past opposing goalkeeper Carly Montgomery, who finished with seven saves.
“Our coach summed it up saying, ‘Every team has those games,’” said Rachel Hobert ’16, the Cardinals’ second keeper. “We were dominating, but we just couldn’t get the ball on net. The few opportunities that they had were all very well-hit and well-placed balls that would’ve been tough for any of our keepers to get to.”
The Cards have begun the season with multiple injuries. When a quadriceps injury kept Jessica Tollman ’15, who started at goalie for most of 2012, out the majority of the preseason, Hobert filled in nicely, making nine saves in the team’s opener at Bowdoin in a close 2-1 loss. However, Hobert sustained a broken finger during a practice last Friday, leaving the team in a tough spot.
While Tollman was able to step in at goal and deliver a gutsy performance in last Saturday’s 0-0 draw against Babson, she was unable to take the field in Wednesday’s game after re-aggravating her quad injury. The Cardinals were left to put two field players, Hannah Jellinek ’15 and Kaylie Williams ’16, into goal against Salve Regina.
Whereas Tollman’s recovery will mainly come from rest, Hobert went into surgery on Thursday in order to repair her broken right index finger.
“It turned out to be a lot more serious than I thought it was,” Hobert said. “Supposedly if I didn’t get it fixed now, I won’t be able to pinch things or really even bend it in the future, so I figured I kind of needed to do it.”
Hobert’s expected recovery time is roughly one month, and she will play with a cast on once she returns. With both primary goalies injured to start the year, the team is looking to bring back Grace Bomann ’14, who played goalie for the team during her freshman and sophomore years. In her freshman year, Bomann recorded two shutouts in the net, but missed her sophomore and junior years because of a back injury.
In the short term, the team will look to both Bomann and Tollman for minutes at keeper, even though Tollman’s time could be limited.
“It’s going to be a lot on her,” Hobert said of Tollman playing while injured. “But we’re really in need of her help right now.”
The Cardinals are looking forward to their next game, this Saturday, Sept. 21 at home against Bates at 11 a.m. Bates is currently 2-3 on the season, with a 1-2 record in NESCAC play.
While the team was disappointed in the result against Salve Regina, Hobert feels that with a few games of experience under their belt this season, the Cards are still in a good position to put some wins on the board.
“We kind of have no expectations now,” Hobert said. “We’re under no pressure, so we should go in with a fierce mentality and be ready to give [Bates] hell because we’ve got nothing to lose. We just need to stick to the basics and play soccer.”