Win eludes women in New Jersey

Author: Maeve McGilloway

This past weekend the Middlebury women's soccer team participated in the fifth annual Stevens Institute of Technology tournament in Hoboken, N.J., which resulted in a mixed bag - a tie on Saturday, Sept. 6 to Stevens (1-1) and a loss on Sunday, Sept. 7 to NYU (0-1). The squad had to travel without its two first-years, Devin Perkins '12 and Kaitlin Surdoval '12, who remained on campus to take part in Orientation activities.

The Panthers first game of the tournament was against the Stevens Ducks. Although ducks would be no match for panthers in the animal kingdom, these ducks were not only the 'Engineering Cup' hosts but also the tournament winners last year. After a scoreless first half, midfielder Margaret Owen '10 converted a well-placed lead pass from fellow midfielder Anne Ford '10 to put Middlebury on the scoreboard. Stevens goalkeeper Jenn Pontier stepped out of the goalmouth as well as her comfort zone. Owen took advantage of Pontier's vulnerability and broke away from three surrounding defenders, scoring a straight-on goal.

The Panthers lost their 1-0 lead twenty-five minutes into the second half when a Stevens defender tied the game with a long-shot goal in the upper ninety. Officially the game ended in a stalemate and will be recognized by the NCAA as a tie, but for tournament purposes the two teams needed overtime play to determine an outright winner.

The Panthers fought through two overtime periods but the game came down to penalty kicks, pitting Middlebury sophomore goalkeeper, Lauryn Torch '11, against Stevens goalkeeper Pontier. In this shootout ,Panthers Anjuli Demers '10, Ashley Pfaff '09 and Tiffany Orlowski '09 were all able to place the ball out of the goalie's reach in the upper corners.

Stevens scored on all five of its opportunities, resulting in a 5-3 penalty kick advantage that gave the Ducks the win. However, the Panthers played tough, reflecting the experience they gained abroad, having played club teams from the Netherlands and Germany on their 10-day tour of Europe this past August.

The following day, the Middlebury blue and white encountered the New York University (NYU) purple and white. With less than 10 minutes left in the game, NYU scored what proved to be the winning goal, and went on to win the tournament.

Owen explained that the challenge now facing the Panthers is to "extend our strong first half play to a full ninety minutes." Middlebury will also need to continue pressuring the goal, and this will most certainly be aided with the return of Pfaff and Nora Tomlinson-Weintraub '10, the two points leaders last season.

Senior tri-captains Zoe Victor '09, Caitlin Parker '09 and Orlowski, along with Coach Peter Kim, feel that the team is more mature than previous years and therefore will not lower its expectations for the season. Owen jokingly added, "We are still undefeated in NESCACs!"

Striker Lindsay Walker '10, temporarily sidelined with an Achilles tendon injury, acknowledged the defeat but looked to the future optimistically.

"We just need to take it game by game, day by day and not look too far in advance," she said. Fellow junior Valerie Christy '10 agreed.

"The losses were a learning experience," said Christy, "and the team accepts and understands what we now have to do to keep on improving our game each and everyday." Christy added that Walker's return to the field this week will most definitely get the team on the right foot.