By Louis Galdos
Elm Staff Writer
The Shorewomen played a very close game against No. 8 Ursinus. It was a nice and breezy evening when the game began. Ursinus came into the game with a record of 10-4 overall, while the Shorewomen came in at 5-8 overall. The Bears struck first by scoring a goal off a penalty corner four minutes into the first half. The Shorewomen were knocking on the Bears door with back to back penalty corners at the bottom of the first half. The score remained 1-0 with the Bears playing good defense.
With 31:48 into the bottom of the first half the Shorewomen’s own freshmen midfielder Sophie Grabiec scored an unassisted bounce back goal on a penalty corner to tie the game at 1-1 going into halftime.
“To score against a team like Ursinus was very exciting, and I think the 1-1 score motivated us to keep working hard,” said Grabiec. “I think I can speak for the entire team when I say I’d like to end the season with wins over F&M, Haverford, and McDaniel. We have really come together as a team and I have faith we can end the season on a positive note.”
At the start of the second half Ursinus answered back quickly as they went up 3-1 in the span of 3:30. The goals were scored off a penalty corner and a penalty shot. The Shorewomen fought hard to attempt a comeback but the Bears held on tight. Ursinus was able to maintain a 3-1 lead in the second half. The Shorewomen never stopped playing and gave the fans an exciting game with many chances offensively. A mostly agressive game, Ursinus had eight shots on goal to WC’s seven shots on goal.
The Shorewomen traveled to Lancaster, P.a. to play No. 6 Franklin and Marshall on Saturday, determined to spoil Franklin and Marhall’s senior day. It was a very cold fall day as the Shorewomen came to spoil Franklin and Marshall’s senior day. F The first goal came in the 26th minute of the first half. The second goal came in the 60th minute of the second half. The Shorewomen were on defense for most the game. F&M did well on a shutout against the Shorewomen.
“The team’s energy has been great all season long – they have incredible focus and drive and have been the most connected group of young women I’ve coached in a long time. They balance each other’s individual character traits well. The competition of the Centennial Conference has tremendous parity; the league is tight and comes down to the wire each year I’ve coached,” said coach Rachel Boyle. “In regards to scoring and execution in the offensive end, many opportunities will present themselves in offensive penalty corners and counter attacks – two situations where you have a number up advantage.”
Boyle was happy with the team’s execution in several aspects of the game.
“For our team, we are very disciplined in the defensive end, we make sure that we are handling counter attacks effectively and aware of the largest threats of our opponents and with this comes a level of sacrifice in our risk taking offensively,” said Boyle. “We remain focused on our development in the execution of our offensive penalty corners – this presents great scoring opportunities and we are continually getting these opportunities in the games we’re playing and at times just slightly off the mark in finishing.”
She said that WC has played in some of their most competitive matches in conference versus Ursinus and Dickinson. “We were inches away from the production of a goal and their players came up with a defensive save. We are right there and the key is in keeping the opportunities, relaxing a bit in our offensive circle and ensuring that we give that extra force and effort to make sure the ball is within inches inside the post versus just falling outside.” she said.
WC will play their final regular season game on Saturday, Oct. 29, when they host McDaniel College for a 1 p.m. conference match. The season finale is also Senior Day for five seniors.
“One of the greatest things about this team has been their commitment to one another. We believe in our abilities and talents. We have an excellent opportunity in front of us and our focus is on that and making the inches work in our favor.”
The Shorewomen’s next game is away at Haverford Wednesday, October 26th at 7:00 pm.