Excellent season ends with ECAC loss
For a team dominated by freshmen and sophomores, the women’s soccer team certainly didn’t let it affect their game this 2013 season. Finishing the season 13-9-2 overall, they finished 7-1-1 in the North Atlantic Conference, giving them the number two seed going into playoffs.
Unfortunately, they lost in the NAC championship game 1-0 to Colby-Sawyer. Junior Jenna Bostwick commented on how that impacted their motivation.
“After losing the NAC we have ‘fuel for our fire’ to get that title back,” she said.
The Spartans then moved into the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament. Last Wednesday, they traveled to Waltham, Mass. to play Brandeis University and won a thrilling game after going into penalty kicks. This was the first ever ECAC postseason win for the Spartans.
On Saturday, they traveled to New Haven, Conn. to face Wheaton College in the ECAC semifinal round where they fell 4-0.
Mallory Costello, a stellar player all season commented on the team’s mentality going into the match.
“We were all really pumped yesterday to try and win another playoff game,” she said. “We were already really happy with how we made it that far already so winning again would have been awesome. We were focused and just wanted to leave everything out on the field.”
Having only four shots, the Spartans struggled to put an offense together. They had only one shot on goal from freshman star Dominique Valancius in the second half.
Despite the loss, the Spartans were proud of their accomplishments this fall.
“This season was great. We accomplished one of our goals by winning a post season game and we really came together as a team with having so many freshmen,” Costello said.
With those 15 freshmen and three sophomores, Bostwick said she has high hopes for the future.
“I think that next year is going to be good,” she said. “I think we will have a solid core of the team with a really good group dynamic so it will be better for the incoming freshmen next year because it will be like welcoming them to a family rather than introducing them to a bunch of random people.”
That being said, they will miss their four seniors: Hannah Corkum, Halie Roberge, Blaire Hooper and team captain Kelsey Lenney.
These seniors have participated in three NAC championships and have gone to the NCAA tournament three times. They finish their careers with a 61-22-4 overall record.
Bostwick, being the only junior, has had the privilege of playing with them for three years and talks about the legacy they are leaving behind.
“These girls were fantastic and lead us to the end,” she said. “I look at all of them as not only teammates, but sisters. They have made a name for CSC women’s soccer and our job for them is to continue it. They are going to be greatly missed next year.”