After two consecutive home games, the Wesleyan women’s soccer team took to the road to play Babson College for just the second time in team history. Wesleyan quickly found its defensive shape and played stingy defense for 45 minutes. But after a scoreless first half, the Beavers found the net twice in the second half. The loss to Babson is the Cardinals’ fourth narrow defeat this season.
Even before the team stepped foot on Babson Park, the Cards (0-4) faced an uphill battle as the Beavers (4-0-1) have only lost once on their home field in their last 18 home games.
Right away, Babson was relentless on offense, recording 11 shots to Wesleyan’s two in the first half. The second half was a similar story, with Babson firing off 14 shots and Wesleyan finding just four of its own. Although Babson had 25 total shots, only six of those hit the target. The Cards’ defense kept Babson’s offense at bay by allowing longer shots to be taken instead of letting the Beavers into the box for higher quality chances.
“Despite the scoreboard, we actually did play a good defensive game yesterday,” Captain Katy Hardt ’15 wrote in an email to The Argus. “Many of the ‘shots’ recorded under the Babson statistics were shots taken outside of the 18 yard box which are much less dangerous than chances inside the box.”
The Beavers’ first goal came in the 51st minute when a Babson forward cleaned up a blocked shot in the box and slotted it in the back of the net.
“We need to be more aggressive inside the box, both defensively and offensively,” Hardt wrote. “One of the few times they got in our box with the ball, they scored.”
Babson also looked to penetrate Wesleyan’s defense on set pieces and corner kicks. Babson had four corner kicks on the day, while Wes had two. Babson’s second goal was a result of a well-placed free kick to the upper 90. Although Wesleyan had superb goalkeeping from both Jessica Tollman ’15 in the first half and Rachel Hobert ’16 in the second, the shot was virtually unsavable.
On offense, although Wesleyan recorded significantly less shots on the day than Babson, the team’s offensive performance was still strong.
“Our six shots on goal were good scoring opportunities,” said Captain Hannah Stone ’15. “We’ve been focusing on attacking play in practice recently so it was great to see some of what we’ve been working on put to use in the game. The next step for us is to capitalize on the opportunities we create and be more aggressive in the attacking third of the field. Our outside defenders did an excellent job getting involved in the attack, making great forward runs. Because we don’t play with outside midfielders, this is crucial for us.”
On Wednesday, Wesleyan will travel to the land of the Jumbos in search of redemption against a strong Tufts side. Since the Cards dropped their first NESCAC game to Bowdoin 2-1 in double overtime, this in-conference game is crucial for their standing in the league.
Tufts stands at 3-0, and all of its wins were decisive ones. In its two NESCAC games, the Jumbos handled Bates 6-0 and put Colby to rest on Saturday, 3-1. A win on Wednesday would be not only be a boost to Wesleyan’s record, but it would also be a message to the rest of the league.
“For Tufts on Wednesday we just need to stick to our game plan, and have a more aggressive mentality inside the 18-yard box to prevent goals, and to put a couple in,” Hardt wrote. “I really feel confident in our team after the Babson game. Our record doesn’t show it yet, but we are ready to turn some of our close, ‘almost’ games into wins.”