Panthers suffer Tufts loss on the road

Author: James Kerrigan

The women's soccer team saw eight goals and two shutouts this past week. Unfortunately, they can only call one shutout and five goals their own. A 3-0 loss to Tufts on Saturday offset the 5-0 win over Norwich on Wednesday afternoon.

Middlebury traveled to Norwich on Wednesday to battle the Cadets, but it was the Panthers that laid down the law. The final tally was 5-0, but it was not even that close.

The women attacked deliberately and defended with ease - they controlled the tempo and dominated possession. Erin Oliver '07 opened the scoring spree with two goals in the first 15 minutes with assists from Kim Kennedy '06 and Kim Walker '07. Once again, Middlebury struck in pairs - this time junior Erin Pittenger netted two goals late in the first half. Assists went out to sophomore Elizabeth Romney and first-year Lindsay Rotherham.

Ashley Pfaff '09 converted the fifth and final goal for the Panthers in the 62nd minute. The Cadet keeper was defenseless as the Panthers fired 34 shots. Middlebury survived their low shot percentage, but on Saturday, it came back to haunt them.

Coming off a season opening 2-0 loss to Colby, the Jumbos from Tufts came ready to play on Saturday. This time, the shot totals were closer (Middlebury finished with a slight 13-11 advantage) but the Jumbos took the battle of the scoreboard as they converted 27 percent of their shots for a 3-0 win.

Unlike their Norwich triumph, Middlebury struggled to dominate play against Tufts.

Coach Kim commented, "We were unable to possess the ball the way that we did against Connecticut. We also didn't finish our chances despite breaking through their defense several times."

Unable to generate any goals on offense, Middlebury also made several key unforced errors leading to Jumbo attacks. The scoring sheet was less than exciting as Tufts star Ariel Samuelson netted all three Jumbo goals (each assisted by Sarah Callaghan).

It seemed as though the squad struggled both offensively and defensively, but Kim noted, "I think [offense and defense] go hand in hand. Had we converted a couple of our clear-cut opportunities, and not turned the ball over during our attack, Tufts would not have had opportunities to score on us. We attack and defend as a team, and everyone is responsible both for preventing and scoring goals."

After the loss to Tufts, Middlebury stands at 1-1 in NESCAC league play and is tied for fourth with Colby, Trinity and Tufts. The Panthers travel to face bottom-dwellers Wesleyan on Saturday and hope to get back above .500.

The team will go back to the basics, improving their simple possession, team defending and, of course, finishing.