Women's Soccer Falls in NESCAC Tourney Opener

Author: Kate Nerenberg

After battling Connecticut College to a 1-1 tie on Saturday, the women's soccer team traveled to Williams College Sunday to commence the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) tournament, only to end their season with a 3-0 loss.
In their last regular-season game, the Panthers were down early in New London, Conn., as the Camels took advantage of a free kick in the corner. In the 11th minute, the kick set up sophomore striker Christa Thoeresz for a header that sailed over goalkeeper Els Van Woert '05. However, the Panthers were absolutely relentless in their fight to put themselves in the best position possible for the NESCAC tournament.
Midway through the second half, while the starters were resting for the next day, junior reserve striker Jessica Peterson found the back of the net, evening the score. After working with fellow strikers Gillian Menza '05 and Brittney Cronin '05 all week in practice, the three connected when it counted.
Despite the intense play that ensued, neither team was able to score throughout the remainder of the half nor 20 minutes of overtime. Prior to the game, the teams were tied for fifth place in NESCAC standings. The Panthers were wary of the Camels, who had won eight of their last 10 games. The result of Saturday's game placed the Panthers at the sixth seed for the next day's NESCAC tournament. This meant that they would travel to Massachusetts to take on perennial foe Williams, a team they had beat 3-2 on October 12.
According to Head Coach Diane Boettcher, the team was looking to exploit Williams in the same manner as the previous match-up. The Panthers were expecting to use their great forward combination of seniors Meg Bonney and Leah Cumsky-Whitlock. All season long, the two have been feeding off each other. However, as was the case with many of their games this season, the Panthers went down early, and could not recover.
The Ephs jumped on the scoreboard within the first four minutes as sophomore forward Brittany Esty took a pass from Afton Johnson and slipped one by the Panther defense.
Consistent with the Panthers' reaction to an early goal, the team buckled down on defense for the next 75 minutes. Nevertheless, the Williams offense finally broke Midlebury down 30 minutes into the second half. Only seven minutes later and still riding its adrenaline, Williams put the game out of reach with one last goal at 82:54. Van Woert ended the game with 10 saves.
Despite the score, Williams' head coach Michelyne Pinard acknowledged Middlebury's tough play. "They are one of the best teams we have played all year, and it's great to be able to beat them in such a big game."
Boettcher attributed some of the game to the fact that her starters were somewhat fatigued by the previous day's taxing game. On the other hand, Williams battled Wesleyan the day before, a game that did not require the use of most of its starters. With fresh legs, the Ephs were literally able to run right past the Panthers.
Williams will head to Boston this weekend to face second-seeded Bowdoin in one semi-final game of the tournament. In the other game, top seed and host Tufts faces fifth-seeded Connecticut College. Boettcher expects Bowdoin to go home with the NESCAC crown.
Despite the end of the season, the Panthers have come far from where they started. With many new starters in the back line, Middlebury was hoping to see improvement with each game, an overriding goal of the season.
"We had a steep learning curve from the defenders and goalkeeper, all of whom were new starters. Then, over the course of the season we had to replace three lost starters, one on defense and two in the midfield, and every time we had to shift, another player came up big," Boettcher said of her team's ability to meet their goal.
Dealing with numerous lineup changes, the Panthers were able to cause quite a stir in the NESCAC and play together into the postseason. Now armed with the experience of different arrangements on the field and individuals in various positions, the women's soccer team is confident that graduation should not cause a step back for next season. The now-experienced defense will be able to better support a newly-fired up offense as Middlebury will again be a NESCAC surprise, looking to make some noise.