First Conference Game to Follow Upset Loss

 

Tomorrow afternoon, the Women’s Soccer team will play the biggest game of their season, traveling to Pennsylvania to face off against conference powerhouse, Juniata College (6-2 overall record, 1-0 conference record).

Junior midfielder Diana Spadaro believes that the next few games of their season will be watershed moments for the squad. “We are just waiting for that one game to change our season and change our attitudes. Even though we go into every game with positive attitudes and the motivation to win regardless of the opponent, these next few games will be extremely crucial for the rest of our season.”

 

After a strong week of practice, the Cards, (2-4-1) were ready to play Frostburg State University, but Mother Nature had other plans. Rain forced a game cancellation. The cancelled game was a major disappointment because the Cards had hoped to avenge their tie with Frostburg State from last season.

Their next game came against Montclair State University and the Cards were looking to get back to their winning ways after dropping their last two out of three. They dominated the game but Montclair State had the last word in a heartbreaker. Though CUA out shot their opponents 14-7 and out-kicked them from the corner 7-1. Players agreed that the loss was due to committing a cardinal sin and eased off before the final whistle was blown, squandering their 1-0 lead with just eleven minutes left to play.

“The Montclair game was a learning experience for us,” said Spadaro. “Soccer is a 90 minute game and you have to play through no matter what the score is. Though we were definitely happy with how we played for the first 80 minutes, in soccer it takes more than that.”

Freshmen midfielder Maggie McCarthy notched her second goal of the season, giving the Cards a 1-0 lead in the sixteenth minute of play. The Cardinals continued to dominate on both sides of play for nearly an hour thereafter, both out shooting their opponents while in control of the ball and then by limiting Montclair’s shots on the CUA goal when falling back to play defense. However, Montclair State made the most of their seven shots. With eleven minutes to go, Montclair State tied the game with a goal from Symone Seldon. Just six minutes later, Natalia Sisti knocked in what would later turn out to be the winning goal for Montclair State. Spadaro led Cards’ offense with a game-high four shots, but the Cards felt as if they let a win slip away from them.

Even though they have played seven games to date, in some ways this season is still very young for the Cards. They have yet to play a conference opponent, and how well they do in their conference will ultimately determine both their playoff hopes as well as the overall fate of their season.

CUA Women’s Soccer Falls Twice Unexpectedly

The Women’s soccer team came into last weekend’s games riding the high of a win and a tie. This past weekend at the Manhattanville Tournament, however, they ran into a brick wall in the form of Trinity and Manhattanville.

Their first game against Trinity began just as Tropical Storm Hanna was hitting New York, foreshadowing an ominous end. In the first half, Catholic out-shot Trinity 6-4. However, Trinity tightened up their defense and held the powerful Cardinal offense without a shot in the last half. Trinity then broke the scoreless tie, and went on to pull away with another goal shortly thereafter. Trinity’s final goal came minutes before the end of the game, shutting out Catholic with a 3-0 finish.

Putting this first loss of the season behind them, the Cards were ready to face Manhattanville on Sunday. While Catholic out-shot Manhattanville, their opponents were able to out-score them, ending in a 4-0 shutout. Bailey Flood of Manhattanville led the team with two goals, while Catholic goalie Amanda Cowan had five saves.

The Cards find themselves in a rough spot early in the season with two consecutive shutouts. “We’ll definitely be able to bounce back from this,” said forward Suzie Peters. “We learned a great deal from our two losses this weekend and although it was frustrating, some positive can come.”

Five days away from their home opener, the Cards are looking forward to having home field advantage. “Playing at home is definitely an advantage because we are more comfortable and [used] to our game field, which we often practice on,” said Peters.

Until then, the women’s team is using all the time they have to prepare for future challenges. “We’re also going to be pushing ourselves harder at practice so that the outcome [of this weekend] won’t happen again,” says Peters.

The Cards will face off against Marymount this Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. at home.