The women’s soccer team finished the weekend with a record of 1-1, having split its pair of games in opposite fashions. After a 5-1 blowout against Davidson on Friday, the team came back flat on Sunday, and William & Mary won with a shutout score, 3-0.
According to junior Lindsay Vera, the scoring opportunities were present in both games, but the team failed to take advantage of them in Sunday’s contest.
“We just weren’t taking our scoring opportunities,” Vera said. “Some people were missing shots that we really shouldn’t have been missing, and they were the only chances we really had to get a goal.”
Vera’s scoring was noticeably absent against the Tribe after posting a hat trick just two days earlier, but said she doesn’t think Friday’s performance had anything to do with being held scoreless.
“I don’t specifically think I was targeted. I just think we didn’t put in the opportunities we had very well,” Vera said.
The Tribe made sure it capitalized on the Wolfpack’s defensive miscues, first scoring on a Emily Kittleson blast from 30 feet out that found the top left portion of the net ÑÑ over the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Sydney Little.
Less than 45 seconds later, William & Mary struck once again, this time with a Mary MacKenzie Grier one-timer off a free kick.
In all, the Tribe scored three times off just eight shots on goal, two of those coming from Kittleson.
Sophomore defenseman Katie Ruiz said the Tribe made the Pack pay for her unit’s concentration lapses.
“For the most part, we were solid in the run of play, but when we let down for a split second, they made the most of their opportunities,” Ruiz said. “They took advantage of their opportunities, and they punished us for it when we let down for just one second.”
Ruiz is the only returning player with experience playing defense last year, and added that the Pack’s youth on the back line will learn from Sunday’s game.
“Their speed of play was quicker, but I felt that when everybody was working hard and on the same page and intense, we were winning our individual battles,” Ruiz said. “But if you only do that for part of the time, it’s not going to get you anywhere.”
Coach Laura Kerrigan said her team was close to finding itself ahead early on, but by not finishing the way it did Friday, it changed the course of the game.
“We had two early on and could’ve gone up 2-0 in this game. If we’d gone up 2-0, then you’re talking about a different game here,” Kerrigan said.
Execution, she said, will be a priority before leading up to this week’s High Point Tournament.
“You look at the scoreboard, both teams had about the same amount of chances,” Kerrigan said. “We probably had more corner kicks than they did, and we didn’t finish off opportunities, and they did.”
