Women's soccer still winless on season

Author: LIse Rosenberger

The Middlebury College women's soccer team dropped two games this week, leaving its record at 0-3-1 overall. The Panthers lost to Plattsburgh in a non-league game on the road last Wednesday, while falling at home to Amherst on Saturday afternoon.

Plattsburgh's Helen Drew scored the single goal in Wednesday's game in the 58th minute, assisted by Liz Radigan and Emily Riley. Middlebury was outshot 8-7, and Middlebury goalie Lauryn Torch '11 contributed with three saves in goal while Plattsburgh's Kathryn Lind held off four shots.

Senior co-captain Zoe Victor '09 identifies a lacking mental component in her team's play in these two early-season losses. "We only took two new freshmen this year, so with a roster of 24, we have pretty much the same team," she said. "Same group, more experience. Unfortunately, however, we've had a slow start."

"The potential is definitely there," Victor continued, "and I have no doubt that we will come together as a team, play up to that potential and make it happen. We're frustrated with ourselves, and we will use that frustration to push ourselves even harder in practice and clean things up on the field."

Middlebury and Amherst were tied at the half on Saturday's game, but Amherst capitalized in the latter period and retaliated with three goals, leading the Lord Jeffs to a 4-1 win. The first goal of the match was scored by Amherst's Jackie Hirsch at 23:35, 16 yards away from the goal. The Panthers pulled even as co-captain Caitlin Parker '08.5 took advantage of a feed from teammate Molly West '10.

Unfortunately, this opened and closed Middlebury's scoring for the day. Amherst rattled off the next three goals. The first came in the 61st minute by Meg Murphy, while the second came just 48 seconds later off the foot of Natalie Ferraiolo. Murphy netted her second goal in the 71st minute.

Middlebury goaltenders Torch and Adele Plunkett '09 split net time, each in for 45 minutes and each saving one shot. Amherst goalies Lili Ferguson and Allie Horwitz saved a collective nine shots on goal, as they too split their time defending the net.

Victor acknowledged the team's dominance against Amherst in the first half. "Against Amherst - which was a slight improvement from our game against Plattsburgh - we completely dominated for most of the first half. We were combining very well, and had the ball at their end of the field for the majority of the time."

However, this momentum was lost in the second half, and Amherst gained the upper hand. Victor noted that Amherst was playing with nerves during the first half, but as the game progressed, the Middlebury girls grew more tired and lost their mental composure.

The Panthers are looking to the future, realizing that their skill and experience make a turnaround likely. "Skill is not something we lack," said Victor, "we are simply not playing like ourselves right now."