Women’s Soccer Sweeps Pair

With the motivation of a tough home loss against Rowan University on  Sept. 11, the women’s soccer team finished the weekend with two straight wins and a four-game win streak.

The Eagles faced Wesley College at home on Saturday, winning 4-0. They followed with a road contest at Averett University on Sunday, emerging victorious by a 2-1 margin. They had notched wins against Bridgewater College and Randolph-Macon College as the other two wins during the streak. The Eagles stand at 5-1-1 on the year.

Head coach Corey Hewson spoke highly of his team regarding the loss to Rowan University.

“They’re the [ninth] best team in the nation right now,” Hewson said. “There was an opportunity for a better result, but we showed that we can play with the best teams in the country.”

Saturday’s game against Wesley pitted Capital Athletic Conference rivals against each other and featured strong defense by both squads in the first half of play, as the score at halftime was knotted at 0-0. The second half opened with quick scores by the Eagles as junior forward Amy Olson scored in the 46th minute, followed by sophomore midfielder Meghan Seelye notching a goal a mere three minutes later.

Both goals were assisted by sophomore forward Sunny Herold, who added the third goal in the 72nd minute, assisted by junior midfielder Marianne Dubinsky.

The final goal of the contest was scored by freshman defender Sarah McMillan, who notched her first collegiate goal. Freshman forward Erin Reynolds set McMilan up with the assist.

“We got complacent in the first half,” Hewson said. “I gave them some, we’ll say, ‘inspiring words’ at halftime, but we were up 2-0 five minutes into the second half. We let our foot off the gas a bit, but picked it back up in the last 15 minutes.”

The road contest against Averett University proved to be a tough matchup, as the score was a much closer 2-1. Freshman defender Tina Rader opened the scoring for the Eagles in the 16th minute on an assist from junior defender Amy Olson. Averett tied the game nine minutes later before senior forward Gabriela Rangel-LaFuente scored the game-winner in the 74th minute, assisted by junior midfielder Morgan Thompson. Junior goalie Tina Brehm made three saves for the Eagles in the contest.

“We were walking into a different environment,” Hewson said. “They were physical. They were aggressive. We were battling the heat, and it was our third game in five days.”

Hewson is confident in his team’s ability moving forward with the rest of the season.

“Our biggest challenge will be consistency,” Hewson said. “[Each game] is a different battle, each game you need to make new adjustments. That’s the challenge playing at Mary Washington. You must balance a lot of things. Frostburg and UMW are two teams doing very well. This is a game with big schedule implications.

They are a solid, athletic team, and they’re new to the conference. We’re going to show them what it’s like being in the CAC.”

The Frostburg State game will take place on Saturday, Sept. 25 at home at 1 p.m.