Women’s Soccer Stumbles, Refuses to Fall
By Neil Kavanaugh
The Catholic University Women’s Soccer team played University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia this past Saturday, falling 2-0. The girls currently boast a 3-3-2 record heading into Landmark Conference play. Last year their record was 5-1-1 in conference play, making the semi playoffs and falling to the eventual champions, Susquehanna University. The Birds first conference game will be held on Saturday, September 28 at Scranton University at 4 p.m.
The Birds put up 10 shots, 4 saves, and 5 fouls, but where outplayed in every statistic except fouls. The Eagles took 16 shots, made 5 saves, and 4 fouls.
The Cardinals’ roster includes many All-Landmark Team honors players. Senior defenceman Mackenzie Earley was named to the First Team last season, and senior forward Elizabeth Johnson, senior forward Grace Boras, and junior middle Maggie Moorcones were named to the Second Team.
The Cards took the field with a strong start, most notably with a shot from junior Bridget Buckley that bounced off the post, just missing the net in the first 6 minutes. The girls continued to show offensive pressure, but the Eagles managed to sneak in a goal 17:45 into the game. The Cards fought back, but the rest of the half remained scoreless.
Teamwork is an important aspect of the game for this group of women. Sophomore defenceman Taylor Porcello, who put up 79 minutes of playtime, felt passionately about this.
“We must play as a team for each other and focus on the things we can control,” said Porcello. “We can control our attitude, effort, and actions in the hope that it rubs off on one another.”
The second half showed that Catholic University refused to surrender, as they came onto the field with renewed energy, taking 7 of their 10 total shots on goal in the period. The girls played hard throughout ninety minutes, but ended up falling just short. The defence greatly improved, not letting the Eagles score until 88:31 bringing the final score to 2-0.
Despite this set back, the girls are not deterred. Senior defenceman Daniella Montesano, who has started 43 games over her career, came out of this game with some positive takebacks.
“Mary Washington was a very strong team but nothing that we couldn’t handle,” said Montesano. “We just didn’t make the changes we needed with our speed of play until too late in the game. This is the strongest and most talented group of teammates I have had the honor to play with since my time here at Catholic.”
This loss has done nothing but force the Birds to focus on their next opponent. There is no sign of this lingering with the team once they walked out of the locker room. Junior goalie Nina Fernandez, who made 4 saves on 6 shots in the match, was not deterred by this loss.
“We have a squad with a lot of talent, and we need to realize that,” said Fernandez. “With this being said, that will lead to our biggest goal of getting into conference playoffs, and finally bringing ‘the ship’ home.”
The girls are certainly not short in the senior leadership department, with just about every girl stepping up and proclaiming how talented and deep their team is. Senior forward Bella Bertoncini, who put up a career high shots on goal percentage of .529%, and Earley are perfect examples of this senior leadership.
“Our main goal for the season is to make it to make it in the top 2 of the conference,” said Earley, “and make it to the Conference Championship where we hope to come out with a win.”
“With a home playoff game, we’re confident we can win and head to the conference championship,” said Bertoncini. “At the end of the day we’re a family and we win together, we lose together.”
The girls play Saint Mary’s (Md.) on Wednesday, September 25th at 7pm. The game is at the Raymond A. DuFour Center. This will be the final game before Landmark conference games start for the Birds, which is Saturday, September 28 at Scranton University at 4pm.
