Last year didn’t start very well for the Wesleyan women’s soccer team, with a tough 4-0 defeat at the hands of their archrivals the Williams College Ephs. The Cardinals hope to get off on the right foot against the Ephs this year when they open the season at home tomorrow.
“I expect the team to be competitive against Williams,” said tri-captain Natalie Cohen ’06. “Traditionally they have always been very good, but this year we are much more prepared to play them. Our coach has a year of experience in the NESCAC and we have talented freshmen joining the upperclassmen.”
Co-captain Caitlin Herlihy ’06 agreed.
“We expect to make it much closer than last year,” she said. “Williams is a tough opponent but we’ve had some great pre-season preparation. Our deep bench should really help. The level of play will stay up no matter who is on the field. You can feel the shift in the program and it’s really exciting to see the transformation, especially for the seniors. It’s definitely a tough home opener but I feel confident that we’ll make it a close one.”
Leading the way for the Cardinals will be Herlihy, Cohen and the other captain, Sarah Hopkins ’06. Leading point scorer for the Cardinals from ’04, Nicole Gray ’08 spearheads the attack on a team that returns a total of 16 letter winners from last season. Going hand-in-hand with that experienced group is a group of talented frosh whom the team will look to for a boost.
“I think Williams should be prepared for a much stronger and more capable Wes squad than last year,” Gray, who made a huge impact last year, said. “We have a strong freshman class as well as several talented returning players who have improved during the off-season.”
That strong freshman class will need to help ignite an anemic offense that managed just 12 goals last season. One of the biggest issues for the Cardinals was their lack of shots. Opponents out shot Wesleyan by an average of 10 shots per game (19.7 to 9.0) in 2004.
With an exciting group of young players combined with more experienced veterans, Wesleyan may just have their best chance of knocking off Williams in a long while. The match begins at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow.
“Wes women’s soccer definitely plans to ‘Whup Williams,” Gray said.
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