Women's Watch - Weekend #5

By D3soccer.com Staff Writer

The last weekend in September marked the half-way point in most teams’ regular season. October is the month when the pretenders are separated from the contenders and where teams position themselves for conference playoffs and post-season play.

Friday, September 26

The only ranked team to compete on Friday was fifth-ranked Trinity (Texas). Trinity (8-0-1) opened SCAC conference play with a convincing 4-0 win over Schreiner (3-3-0). Four different Tigers contributed to the win as they outshot Schreiner 35 to none.

John Carroll (5-2-1) hosted cross town opponent Case Western Reserve (5-1-2) on Friday. The Blue Streaks often play the role of underdog to their much larger rival. Last year the Spartans won at home 4-0. However, this year’s matchup proved to be much more of a battle. After two overtimes, the two teams remained knotted at nil. Streaks keeper Haley McDonald earned her fifth shutout of the season and continues to make an early case for OAC conference keeper of the year.

A battle of SUNY schools also took the spotlight on Friday night. To kick-off the opening weekend of SUNYAC play, the Oswego State Lakers (3-4-1) battled the Oneonta State Red Dragons (2-4-2) to a scoreless draw Friday afternoon. The result triggered an unusual SUNYAC rule which requires a penalty kick “tiebreaker” even though the game is officially recorded as a tie. The result of the shootout could come into to play at the end of the season as a tiebreaker for conference playoff seeding. Oswego shot first and would score on four of their five shots. Oneonta, however, would go one better when Jessica Lynden buried her shot to conclude a perfect five-for-five performance from the spot by the Red Dragons.

Saturday, September 27

Two nationally ranked teams did battle when No. 11 Wheaton (Ill.) (8-1-1) hosted top-ranked Washington U. (8-0-1). In what was a trend for the weekend, the two teams fought to a scoreless draw. Despite the lack of goals, the game was hotly contested. Wheaton head coach Pete Felske commented at the end of the match, "If you don't bring your best against Washington U. they will pick you apart. Today was the best effort we've put forth and it was another great Washington U - Wheaton match. They bring out the best in us in many areas and today was fun to be a part of."

UPSET OF THE WEEK - Ohio Northern (4-4-1) pulled a stunner over No. 7 Thomas More (8-1-0) on Saturday, and one has to wonder if a sleeping giant has been awakened. Freshman Anna Niemeyer fired the shot heard round the Midwest when she was able to touch a deflected ball in the box into the goal to give the Polar Bears an early 1-0 lead that would hold up and deal the Saints their first loss of the year despite a second half onslaught to reverse the outcome. Ohio Northern are annual contenders in the OAC, but were struggling in their non-conference schedule. The win lifts them to the .500 mark entering conference play.

No. 2 Messiah made their pitch for the top ranking with a 2-0 win over Grove City (1-7-1) Saturday evening. While Messiah statistically dominated Grove City, the Wolverines proved a tenacious opponent for the Falcons. With the win, the Falcons remain undefeated at 9-0-0.

Eight, Three, Eight, Two. Residents of Baltimore might have wanted to play those numbers in the lottery this weekend, as the eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins (8-2-0) beat Muhlenberg (6-2-1) 3-0 to record their eighth win and move to 2-0-0 in conference play. All-American Hannah Kronick started the scoring for the Blue Jays on a long ball from Adrienne Johnson. Five minutes later, Alyssa Conti tallied her first goal of the season off an assist from Bailey Monaco. The final goal came off the foot of Alaina Arthur, as she put it past the keeper into the upper right corner of the goal.

On the heels of their 6-0 midweek pasting of Mary Washington, Catholic (7-1-2) posted an 1-0 upset win over No. 25 Elizabethtown (5-2-0) on Saturday. The Cardinals’ attack was equal to that of the Blue Jays on the day after Alyssa Fiore’s goal in the first ten minutes changed the complexion of the game. "We had talked about coming out strong and getting an early goal," said women's soccer head coach J.P. Sousa. "We knew that if we at least had the goal, we could take a couple chances and see what else we could make happen."

No. 19 Williams (6-1-0/3-1-0) and No. 18 Amherst (6-1-0/3-1-0) notched wins in NESCAC play Saturday. Both teams look to keep pace with No. 16 Bowdoin (6-1-0/4-0-0) in the conference standings.

Sunday, September 28

There were few surprises on Sunday as higher ranked teams rolled to victory. No. 3 Carnegie Mellon (8-0-0) cruised to a 3-0 victory over Frostburg State (7-2-2) on the strength of three second-half goals. With a 52 to 0 advantage in shots, No. 5 Trinity (Texas) (9-0-1) destroyed Texas Lutheran by a 6-0 margin. Likewise, No. 25 Augustana (7-2-0) thumped UW-Superior (3-6-1) by the same 6-0 scoreline and a 48-0 disparity in shots.

GAME OF THE WEEK - In a weekend that brought few surprises, No. 6 Emory (6-0-2) and Centre (6-2-1) engaged in an epic battle on Sunday. The ranked Eagles struggled to defeat the tenacious Colonels, but would eventually edge them 1-0 in double overtime. Pushing for a spot in the national polls, Centre fell with just 55 seconds remaining in the second overtime period when Emory senior Emily Feldman broke a scoreless stalemate with the second 'golden goal' of her collegiate career. It was the defensive showdown expected based on their seasons thus far, and Centre’s defense was especially needed to survive a second half favoring Emory (9 shots to 2). But in extra time Centre looked every bit as likely to snatch the victory and almost did when two goal-bound shots forced the Emory keeper to make diving deflections midway through the second overtime period.

Mascot of the Week

John Carroll Blue Streaks

The John Carroll Blue Streaks caught our attention this week. Theirs is a mascot that can conjure up many images. People can talk a “blue streak” while the image of a “blue streaker” might be inappropriate for a family oriented web page, but the Blue Streak of John Carroll is both a lightning bolt and a wolf. The sports teams were originally called the Saints. The person generally credited with christening the team with the new name, “Blue Streak,” is Raymond Gibbons ’24, who followed the team on the practice field after his graduation, despite a serious illness. On one of these occasions, he reportedly remarked, “they’re tearing around like a blue streak.” At his death in 1925, The Carroll News referred to him as “one of the most ardent followers of John Carroll’s teams and since his graduation he has kept up his interest in the Blue Streak eleven that he so aptly christened, attending every game he possibly could.” Its early use was always in the singular; it became “Blue Streaks” in the 1930s. More recently, the Blue Streaks have been described as a pack of wolves and the JCU mascot is a wolf named Lobo.