After its first conference victory in three years, the women’s soccer team embarked on a five game road trip around New England. A quick 3-2 win at Springfield, which marked its first winning streak since 1997, was followed by a trip farther north to face Colby’s Mules, who won 4-0. A few days later the Cards lost again to Tufts 3-2 in Medford, Mass. Bates claimed a 4-0 victory over the Cardinals on Saturday, and Rhode Island College triumphed over the Cards 2-0 in Providence, putting this season’s record at 3-9 (1-6 NESCAC).
Offense dominated the game at Springfield as both teams shot in double figures. Wes got off 13 shots, the most it had taken all year, and Springfield took 16. Despite the offensive explosion, goalie Kelly McFarling ’05 played brilliantly, making six saves. She and the Cardinal defenders, led by Corinne Case ’05, buckled down numerous times in the first half, holding the Springfield attack scoreless. Unfortunately, Springfield came through on its end too, as the Birds were also scoreless in the first half.
Both defenses opened up in the second half as Nicole Gray ’08 was on the receiving end of a nice pass from Case, who beat the Springfield goalie to give the Cards a 1-0 lead in minute 58. This slim edge held for nearly 20 minutes, but Springfield knotted the score in minute 76. Natalie Cohen ’06 struck back less than three minutes later to take back the lead, but the score was again tied in minute 88, and the contest headed to overtime. In minute 98, Gray tallied her second goal to win the game for the Cards 3-2, giving the team its first back-to-back wins since 1997.
Just two days later, the Red and Black headed up to Waterville to take on Colby. This match began as a defensive struggle, but in minute 28, the Mules’ Laura Williamson beat McFarling, who made six saves on the day to keep the Birds behind 1-0 at the half.
As the second half began, the Cards went out focusing on holding the Mules out of their zone, but in minute 61 Williamson tallied again to give Colby a 2-0 lead. Two more goals sealed a 4-0 victory for the Mules. The Cards were shutout and out-shot 16-11.
Three days later, the road trip continued on the Tufts pitch, where the Cardinals hoped to start a new winning streak. Most of the first half was a defensive struggle focused between the zones as the two teams fought for possession, hoping to exploit a possible opening in the opposition’s façade. Late in the first half, the Jumbos’ Sarah Calaghan found a gap and rolled the ball into the Wes goal. Not to be outdone, the Cards’ Marcia Whitehead ’08 tied the score less than a minute later, and the 1-1 score held up until minute 65 when Ariel Samuelson knifed through to beat McFarling for a 2-1 Tufts lead. From there, the battle in the trenches went on, as neither side was able to hold the favorable positions that they had gained for the next 18 minutes.
In minute 83, Kyla Donnelly ’08, another member of this year’s talented freshman class, breached the Tufts defensive front to tie the contest at two. It seemed like overtime was inevitable, but Jen Baldwin lit the lamp 90 seconds later to score what turned out to be the winning goal in a 3-2 victory for the Jumbos.
Last Saturday, the Cardinals returned to Maine, this time to play the Bobcats of Bates. Wesleyan tried to breach the Bates defense, but the Bobcats struck first when Jessie Gargiulo sent a kick past McFarling in minute 20. Less than seven minutes later, Kim Alexander doubled the Bates lead. From there, both defenses dug in, neither giving an inch when the ball was in their zone, and the first half ended with a 2-0 Bates advantage.
“We played pretty well and organized but could not create many chances to score,” said coach Eva Bergsten-Meredith. “Kelly McFarling had some good saves that kept the score close in the first half.”
The second half turned out to be more of the same, as Gargiulo and Jessica Wagner scored within minutes of each other halfway through the second half, and Wesleyan was shut out for the second time in three games. Bates out-shot the Cardinals 26-9, but Wesleyan put up more of a fight than the stats indicate.
“I was happy with the fact that we didn’t give up but fought hard until the end.” Bergsten-Meredith said. “They were more athletic and skilled than us and had a couple of very good forwards.”
Finally able to return within two hours of campus, the team played a very good squad from Rhode Island College and fell 2-0. The first goal came three minutes in, and the second in minute 77. Much of the game took place in the center of the field, but RIC spent a lot of time in the Wes zone, getting off 17 shots to the Cardinals’ four. A bright spot for Wesleyan was McFarling’s ten saves.
“We played a very good second half and possessed the ball much better than in the first,” Bergsten-Meredith said. “We had some key chances to score but their goalkeeper came up big and saved the game for them. We pressured hard and they got a counter attack goal at the end of the game to make it 2-0.”
The Cardinals finally return home this Saturday for Homecoming Weekend. They will try to end their current losing skid against the Lady Jeffs of Amherst.
“Our problem is playing hard for 90 minutes,” Bergsten-Meredith said. “We’ve had stretches when we played really well mixed in with periods of poor performance. We’re working towards being more consistent throughout the whole game.”
Leave a Reply