by Rachel Walsh
The past two weekends have brought the start of a new week and a new mindset for our team. To recap: we lost to Drexel, Fairfield, Ohio University, and Towson. The losses were tough but we're moving forward as a team in the right direction with our heads held high.
We knew the Drexel game would be a hard one, but we went into it both mentally and physically prepared. With the help of the coaching staff and our own hard work we were able to keep the score fairly low. The first half was a little shaky: we had some mental breakdowns as a team on defense that led to Drexel's four goals. However, at halftime, the team came together and we figured out how to hold them for the rest of the game (AND IT WORKED: Drexel didn't score in the second half!). This game taught us a lot about our team offense and defense. Offensively we had opportunities, but we couldn't capitalize on them (aside from Therese Doyle's beautiful goal in the first half). In the week to follow we worked a lot on offensive cutting, receiving, and passing. Defensively, the team realized we had a bit of communication and circle play issues, so we ironed those out in practice the following week as well. Overall, I was really proud of our team. We played really well against a team that is extremely good, and I think we held our own.
The Fairfield loss was a tough one to swallow. After the Drexel game, we were optimistic about the potential outcome of the game. We fixed some things from the day before, but not all, which allowed Fairfield to get two goals against us. During the game we were fighting the elements (it was POURING) and our muscle fatigue from the day before. Everyone gave it one hundred and ten percent on the field, but we still came up short. Though the outcome wasn't great, our team proved we had a fighting spirit and a desire to win. This game did highlight some things to work on as well which we did during the following week.
After a week's worth of hard work, we felt as though we were ready to take on Ohio University and Towson at the tournament this weekend at Temple. We had practiced hard and knew what we had to do to achieve some success. In some areas, that's exactly what we got. However, we still couldn't get that "W." The Ohio University game was a really impressive display of our team's hard work and attitude, though the score doesn't reflect it. We dominated for most of the game, keeping possession and cutting off of each other for the ball. Defensively, we did everything extremely well (with the exception of a few breakdowns). Just like we practiced, we were able to shut down Ohio's passing options for the most part. Ohio did get opportunities which they capitalized on which led to our losing outcome. However, as a team we were so excited to have played so well against a top twenty team (who recently beat someone in the top ten). We really brought it to them. We also were able to score two goals against them which kept our confidence high. We realized going into the Towson game that if we played like we did against Ohio we would be golden. Unfortunately, our game was full of lulls. We did have some moments of glory; we scored three goals and almost tied it up, but we fell short. Towson was probably the most disappointing of them all, because we were so hungry for that win.
As a team we're ready to move forward and break this streak. We are excellent competitors and we work really hard. We've learned crucial things about our game from these losses, and we're ready to fix the mistakes and move on. It's time to let go of the past and better our future. This week we're going to push ourselves to the limit, so we can ensure that it all will be left on the field next Sunday against Penn and we FINALLY get that win.
-Rachel
