Women's soccer climbs over camels' hump

Author: Lise Rosenberger

Middlebury women's soccer surged ahead in its NESCAC domination this past weekend as the Panthers defeated Connecticut College on the Camels' home turf in New London, Conn. The Panthers' 1-0 win marks their fifth shutout of the season and their fourth consecutive win.

While they will play their final regular season game this Friday at Williams, the women have already secured their place in the NESCAC tournament thanks to their win on Oct. 25, and look forward to hosting a first round game on Nov. 7.

It took a few minutes in the beginning of the game against the Camels for the Panthers to get into their play, calm their nerves, and adjust to some trying weather conditions. "It took us a while to settle down the game in the first half," noted Senior tri-captain Caitlin Parker. "The field conditions weren't great and it was a pretty windy day, so it was tough to play the same kind of balls that we would normally play on our field at Middlebury."

However, the adjustment was made and the Panthers caught a break when Ashley Pfaff '09 scored the game's lone goal almost an hour into the match, off of a feed from Parker.

The goal marks Pfaff's first goal of the season and an impressive 21st of her career. Pfaff redirected Parker's feed from the right wing into the right corner of the goal off of the post, slipping out of the reach of Connecticut's goaltender Jenna Ross. The second half was highlighted with offensive opportunities and exciting play, as Connecticut did not accept its Homecoming loss lightly; however, Middlebury's solitary goal proved enough to secure a victory for the Panthers.

The Panthers dominated the match offensively, and Connecticut's Ross made seven saves in net. Middlebury's keeper Lauryn Torch '11 anchored the shutout with three saves for the Panthers.

"The defense played really well, keeping Conn's offense to a minimum despite dealing with some injuries," said tri-captain Tiffany Orlowski '09.

With their spot in the NESCAC tournament solidly locked in, the Panthers turn their attention to making a few modifications before their playoff debut. Reflecting on the upcoming challenge of the battle against Williams, Parker observed that the two teams are, in her opinion, pretty evenly matched.

"For the last few weeks we have really been working to improve our speed of play and our speed of support," she said. "These will both be important aspects of our game as we go into the post season. As far as Williams is concerned, we will continue to work in these areas and others, but the important thing for the upcoming match is that we show up on Friday ready to battle."

Orlowski agreed. "For the playoffs, we're incredibly excited to be at home, and we worked really hard to secure that spot. Four straight NESCAC wins is a great accomplishment, and we're expecting that the playoffs are going to be just as hard, if not more intense than the regular season games," she said.

"We're just going to take it one game at a time though, and ensure that all of our focus is on that day," Orlowski concluded.

Middlebury will host the first round of the NESCAC tournament this Sunday, Nov. 2.