11-3-1.The BC Women’s soccer team has come a long way since the 2008 fall season. We have already surpassed the number of wins from last year by five and are currently 5-2 in the conference.
I apologize for not keeping you all informed on what has been going on with the team. School really picked up in the last few weeks with papers, tests, and homework! For some reason professors like to schedule tests all at the same time. It makes it very difficult to study and takes a lot of time. Now that class has somewhat settled down again, let me take the time to catch you up on a few games and team activities.
So like I said, we are 5-2 in the conference and it has taken a lot of hard work and dedication by all 29 players to get where we are. A little less than a month ago we were sitting at 6-2-1 with the same amount of wins as the previous season. We were going into a game that we knew could be a win if we played Bridgewater soccer. On September 26 we traveled to Arlington, Va. to play Marymount on a cold, rainy, evening. When I say cold and rainy I mean cold and rainy. It was the first time we experienced weather like this, but you know what they always say, “the opponent is playing under the same conditions.” It was no excuse for us not to play to our potential. We went out and made the game tougher than it needed to be, but ended up pulling away with a 5-2 victory.
Well this game seemed to set the team off with sickness, you know, the cold, rain, and the change in weather as we transition into fall. We had a few girls with a touch of pneumonia, bronchitis, the flu, laryngitis, etc. It was just going around the team! Some of us were lucky enough not to catch anything. This worried us a little as we were getting deep into conference play and games were coming up that we needed to win!
The next game we prepared for was against Randolph-Macon. They have been scoring many goals this season and our mission was to stop that. There is a history with Bridgewater playing this team. Last year, we played them at home in a tough competition. It was a back-and-forth game and no one scored at the end of regulation sending us into overtime. The first 10 minutes went by and then we were in the second overtime. With about a minute to go they have a direct kick. The ball gets sent into the box, our goalie, Shauna, goes up for the ball, gets knocked into the goal by one of the Macon players, so there is no way she can make a save, and they knock the ball into the net giving them the edge to beat us. Now it was truly a foul, but did the ref call it? No!
So for the past year we have been waiting to pay them back for our loss. We went and played a physical game and beat them 2-1. I think now they know who the better team really is. It was a great victory for the team and gave us the confidence we needed to play our next ODAC contest against Guilford, another important win we needed to help our standings in the conference. We traveled to Greensboro, N.C. on a hot Saturday afternoon (see I told you the weather is crazy!) to play Guilford in the best game we have had all season shutting them out 5-0.
That celebration came and went quickly as we had to think about our next opponent- Virginia Wesleyan. This would be our hardest game so far into the season. Last year they shut us out 7-0, but I think their cockiness got the best of them this year. We still lost, but closed the gap, only losing 2-0. They scored off of two set pieces, which wouldn't have happened if we didn't make small defensive mistakes. We also missed a penalty kick. Both of these could have made a huge difference in the game. No matter what you win or lose by a team should always have good sportsmanship. Well that isn't the case for VA Wesleyan. At the end of the game when we clap hands and tell them "good game" they decided they wanted to mock us saying, "way to make history." I am sorry to tell them, but we have already made history and we will continue to make history.
We are the last team they are going to want to see in the playoffs. We knew we played well against them, but could have played better. Fall break was approaching and the team was ready for it. On Friday of fall break we had a team tie-dye party at Ashley's which was a way for us to bond as a team not on the field. It is nice to get that time were we can joke around and have fun. Then on Saturday we played Sweet Briar winning 2-0, had Sunday off and came back Monday to get ready for EMU, our cross-town rivals.
Once again, there is history with this team. In the 2008 season, we lost 2-1. It was a 1-0 game for a long time, but just before time ran out we tied the score thinking it would send us into overtime. EMU had a quick restart; the girl ripped a shot that floated over our keeper's hands. It was literally in 11 seconds. So we ended up losing and were ready to get revenge once again.
We beat EMU 3-1. We made the game tougher than what it needed to be as we were tied at half time 1-1. We came out strong in the second half gaining the lead 2-1. Then we heard our assistant coach, Jason, yell “11 seconds!” as motivation to keep up our intensity and not let them come back and score. We held strong, and scored another goal to make it 3-1 by the end of the game. All three coaches were ecstatic that we beat EMU. It has been 6 years since the Bridgewater Women’s soccer defeated them.
This win secured us in a spot in post-season play. Since we beat them coach decided to let us play world cup at practice the next day except we had to dress wacky tacky, something like our skit we had to do. Outfits were absolutely ridiculous! Then we went to cheer on our men’s soccer team. We have four games left in regular season play and Lynchburg is this Saturday. They are nationally ranked, however that won’t stop us from giving them the fight of their lives.
- Jessica Palmer
