Sheamus Dalton
Sports Editor
Over the weekend, The College of Wooster women’s soccer team (1-1) split a series of two games in a season opening tournament hosted by Albright College (0-2) in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Scots opened the weekend Saturday with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Lions of Albright College and finished with a close 0-1 loss against York College (2-0).
This season, the Scots will be led by a veteran core of upperclassmen offensive and defensive players. Seniors Crystal Chavez ’15, Jessica Friesen ’15 and Sophia Garfinkel ’15 alongside juniors Isabel Abarca ’16, Lauren Hancher ’16 and Lily Mohre ’16 will lead the offensive threats. Kimberley Seidell ’15, Carly Joliat ’16 and Rachael Davis ’16 will join forces with Kelsey Clark ’16 and Brenna Coolbaugh ’16 to form a sturdy defensive front. This group, along with skillful young talent from the first-year and sophomore classes, will form a deep squad to carry the team through the season. Specifically, leading goal scorer from 2013 Kennedy Payne ’17 will join with Kathleen Kalafatis ’17 to add to the Scots offense while Liz Kantra ’17 looks to bolster the team on the defensive side.
On Saturday, the team’s experience was tested early against Albright in a contest that took one overtime period before the Scots were able to tally their first win of the season. For much of the game, the Scots dominated possession and doubled Alright’s shot total 10-5. Mohre opened the scoring early for Wooster in the 20th minute off a corner kick that found its way into the back of the net. For the next 50 minutes, the Scots held Albright goalless until Rebecca Satario tied the game at one in the 71st. The game remained deadlocked for the rest of normal time and two minutes into the overtime period when Chavez was able to bury a clean shot off of a breakaway opportunity to finish the game 2-1 in Wooster’s favor.
After a full day’s rest, the Scots returned to the pitch for the final game of the tournament against the Spartans of York College. York proved to be stiffer competition as the game stood at 0-0 through the halftime whistle. The Scots matched York in shots throughout the game 9-11 but were unable to capitalize on any chances.
It took the Spartans until the 75th minute to break the deadlock as Maxine Herman finished off a Carly Eppler ’17 save. Eppler ended the game with an impressive five saves and will look to build upon her performance between the pines this season.
The Scots made their 2014 home debut Wednesday after press time against Bluffton University on the luscious grass of Carl Dale Field. The women travel to Marietta tomorrow for another early season tournament. They will open the weekend against Defiance College at 2 p.m. and will play an opponent to be announced on Sunday at 1 p.m.