Women’s Soccer Nets Two Wins

When the Ladies soccer team plays at home, cheered on by friends and family, the field is alive. That energy, coupled with recent defeat, propelled the Ladies to a dominant 5-0 win over Marietta College last Thursday. Head Coach Kelly Bryan and the Ladies were hungry for a win after an 0-2 weekend in Lynchburg, Va.

Against Marietta, however, the team honed their focus. “We controlled the tempo of the game and created opportunities,” Bryan said. Becca Romaine ’15 hit the back of the net within the first five minutes of the match, and from there, the Ladies did not let up on the Pioneers. Romaine scored again in the first half, as did Olivia Lloyd ’16, who netted the first goal of her collegiate career. Courtney Hague ’13 and Alice Bell ’16 also scored.

After Thursday’s win, the Ladies traveled to Pennsylvania, home of the Carnegie Mellon Tartans, in the hopes of starting a win streak. But they had no such luck. Kenyon held Carnegie Mellon to a scoreless tie in the first half, defending nine shots, but they could not stop a second-half push by their opponent, and the Tartans defeated the Ladies 0-3, despite five saves by goalie Lauren Wolfe ’14.

Coach Bryan attributed the loss to a “[lack of] execution against a very strong opponent.” Heather Amato ’13 said, “[We] are still trying to find some consistency in our speed of play, no matter the level of the other team.”

That held true yesterday when the Ladies took down The College of Mount St. Joseph. 3-0. “In practices we’ve been stepping up the intensity and focus to try to set the tone,” Amato said.

With mostly close losses this season, the Ladies have proved that they have talent in every part of the field, but still, they need that last cohesive step.

“We know what kind of team we are: the kind of team that’s going to bounce back,” Maddy Jacobs ’15 said “We also know how good we are, and nothing is going to stand in our way of winning now.”

There are teams who practice day in and day out with heart, players who give 110 percent every second of practice under the watchful eye of tireless coaches. The Kenyon women’s soccer team is one of them, home or away.