UMW Soccer Ties In 2nd OT

NICK JACOBS

Aim was not the word of the day for the University of Mary Washington women’s soccer team Saturday.
Despite outshooting Chowan University 37-1, the Eagles came up scoreless in their final home game of the season, tying 0-0 after two overtimes.
After defeating first ranked Salisbury 2-1, CAC rival Hood College 3-0 and tying 4th  place St. Mary’s on the road, the Eagles were unable to take advantage of the multitude of opportunities they had during their homecoming on Saturday.
Freshman goalie Kristy Brown of Chowan managed to keep Mary Washington out of the net, racking up 15 saves through regulation and two overtimes.
Despite facing one of the best Division III goalies, coach Kurt Glaeser feels his team could have easily come out on top.
“There were just tons and tons of lack of composure and just not putting shots on frame,” he said.  “When you take 20 or 35 shots like I imagine we did, and don’t score a single goal, that’s just not being composed. Their goalie made a few great saves, but we had enough chances to win.”
Junior Katie Patchett agrees.
“I thought that we completely outplayed Chowan but we just could not finish our scoring opportunities,” she said. “It’s very frustrating for our team to have so many opportunities to score and to not come out with a win.”
However, she thought the team showed their strength, despite a tie.
“Our team played very well,” she added. “We felt we had improved on a lot of the little things that we have been working on all season in practice, including creating lots of scoring opportunities.”
The University of Mary Washington offense has been in full swing since they last played at the battlegrounds, racking up a total of 106 shots over the past five games.
Their defense has kept other teams to an average of six shots per game, while junior Laura McCarthy has only given up two goals.
Glaeser, however, feels that Saturday’s game highlighted some weaknesses.
“I just think we started to panic and choke,” he said. “We got a little too tight and played like a young team. We have three seniors on the team; we play like a young team at times that is not focused. And when you are not focused and relaxed at the same time in front of the goal, it is going to be a hard to score goals.”
Senior Margaret Vaccaro agrees.
“I think the age difference has had a huge affect on how we perform in important games,” she said. “Many games we just need someone to step up and make a play, or take responsibility to change the face of the game.”
Despite improving significantly from last year’s 5-10-2 record, UMW will have to play hard to keep their season alive.
Vaccaro still thinks that Mary Washington has a great chance at taking the tournament.
“I think in the tournament we will have to rely on our older players to keep their composure and make the plays,” she said. “Overall I think we have a very strong team that has the ability to win the tournament. It just depends on whether we all come to play together.”
Glaeser is a little less optimistic.
“We will have a home field the first game,” Glaeser said. “But after that, who knows.  I think there are five teams in our conference that could win it all. I think we are one of them, but York, St. Mary’s and Salisbury are very tough; they always play us hard.”
Ranking third in the conference, the Eagles will begin the Capital Athletic Conference Tournament this Saturday with an 8-3-3 record and home field advantage.