By Taylor Konyk
Elm Staff Writer
It’s Saturday afternoon, and Fall Family Weekend. It’s the Waterfront Festival—It’s Homecoming. As parents arrive in Chestertown to witness a glimpse of the Washington College experience, the scheduled sports events have already begun. The Washington College Shorewomen would battle the Gettysburg Bullets in a 4 p.m. matinee. With much fan support, WC had an endless supply of motivation, but they lost nonetheless.
So what went wrong? Coming off an important 2-1 win over Bryn Mawr, one would imagine the Shorewomen had great momentum entering their game against the Bullets. However, the Shorewomen wouldn’t only leave Roy Kirby Jr. Stadium with a loss, but they would be shut out four goals to none in the process.
First things first, the Gettysburg Bullets are a good soccer team. They didn’t just create chances for themselves, but they capitalized on those chances. To their 16 shots on goal, the Shorewomen had one—to their five saves, the Shorewomen recorded one. Aside from scoring chances, time of possession heavily favored GC—which may help explain how the defeat came about.
Time of possession isn’t always an accurate gauge of how well a team is faring, but in this case it is. Statistics don’t always accurately portray soccer’s intangibles—like the mental fatigue of playing defense for long periods of time. Eventually, a team’s mental toughness wears down, because its constantly playing catch-up rather than dictating play.
WC’s failure to stymie the Bullets possession time contributed heavily to their lack of scoring chances. Similarly, because the Bullets maintained the ball for most of the game, the chances they created were bound to lead to scoring.
Despite the final score, the Shorewomen put up a fight. For a time, WC fended off GC’s relentless attack. Around the 24 minute marker, Rebecca Potochney made a spectacular save after GC broke through the defense on a two-on-one. After a while, the defense couldn’t keep up with the pace of the Bullets, and they appeared one step behind. In essence, Gettysburg dictated the pace of the game.
Corner kicks also played an important role in the Shorewomen’s defeat. Unfortunately, WC would play on the other end of one of the most exciting plays in soccer as they found themselves defending 10 corner kick opportunities. The Bullets would take full advantage of their corner kicks early on, scoring their first goal off a stadium-side header.
One statistic that sorely sticks out is the automatic possession WC gained due to fouls. The Bullets took 16 fouls to WC’s one. The fact that WC couldn’t maintain possession, let alone generate scoring chances after they’d been handed possession 16 times is startling.
So what exactly happened on Saturday? Perhaps the unusually short period between games caused a mental or physical breakdown in the girls’ play. Perhaps Gettysburg is simply a very good soccer team. Or, perhaps it simply wasn’t the Shorewomen’s day. Either way, it’s just one loss and the team will have a shot at redemption on Wednesday against King’s College Lady Monarchs.
Until then, we should all seek solace in the old adage—you win some, you lose some.