The women’s soccer team is packing their bags and heading to Georgia. While in the Peach State this weekend, the Lady Crusaders hope to continue building on their 4-2 start to the season.
The Crusaders are coming off a loss to the nationally-ranked Tartans of Carnegie Mellon University. The Tartans put the pressure on the Crusaders for the majority of the game, and they were finally able to break through with the winning goal coming off the foot of freshman Tori Iatarola in the 81st minute.
Junior Mariah Richards led the defense as the Crusaders tried to fend off the Tartan attack, which put 12 shots on goal compared to the Crusaders, who could only muster four shots in the 90-minute contest.
After making it to the National Semi-Finals last year, the Crusaders are looking to reload at some key positions for the 2014 season.
Maggie Donnellan, who started every game between the pipes for the Crusaders last year, is gone, as is 2013 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) forward-of-the-year Hilary Ells.
Junior Kim Leitch and sophomore Alexis Brand have split time in the goal throughout the first six games, with Brand getting the nod in the last two starts, including an 11-save performance Sunday.
It appears that Ells’s role of natural scorer has been filled by sophomore Becca Cartmill, who has already matched Ells’s goal total from last year. Cartmill leads the team with four goals (to go along with her two assists), picking up an OAC Player of the Week along the way.
Cartmill credits her early season success to all the work she put in over the summer.
“I focused on the technical side of the game, and that has really helped me gain that extra step to be quicker to the ball,” said Cartmill.
Cartmill also explained that having a year under her belt allows her to feel comfortable with her other teammates.
“Each game we are improving, and we just need to get to the point where everyone becomes comfortable with playing with each other,” said Cartmill.
Moving forward, the Crusaders are still focused on taking it one game at a time, knowing that there are still four games until OAC play begins.
“We are still in the beginning of the season and trying to find the unit that clicks once they’re out there together,” said junior Mariah Richards.
The Crusaders are a very youthful team, having only one senior on the roster with midfielder Jessie Cermej.
Even though the team may be younger than years past, Richards reiterated that youth for the Crusaders doesn’t equate to not having enough talent. Freshmen Shelby Johnson and Kaitlyn Semelsberger have both seen significant minutes this season, and, as expected, it will take some time for the talent to mesh together.
“On an individual level, we are very talented,” said Richards. “ It’s just, as a team, we are still looking to find that intangible spark that all great teams have.”
The Crusaders will look to get back to their winning ways when they leave Thursday for Georgia. They are scheduled to play Agnes Scott College Friday at 4:30 p.m. and the Emory Eagles at 1:00 p.m. Sept. 21.
