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| Coaches Corner | |||||||
 Eric Lambinus11th season at Moravian
On Tuesday, August 18th, the women’s soccer players returned to campus to prepare for the 2009 season. After a good season last year including our first conference championship and returning 8 starters and 18 letterwinners, our expectations for 2009 are once again pretty high. Apparently, the Landmark Conference does not expect as much voting us to finish 3rd behind both Scranton and Catholic. I agree that both teams should be very strong this year and we are looking forward to an extremely competitive conference schedule. Juniata will also be in the mix returning their entire team from last year’s playoff appearance. We will also play an extremely tough non-conference schedule with games against Muhlenberg, York, Rowan and Eastern. As for our team, our preseason has been very competitive and promising. Although we have dealt with a couple of typical preseason injuries, the team is starting to come together pretty well. Our upperclassmen are working hard and all five new players will push for playing time, including a couple who look like they will crack the starting lineup. Our most competitive spots definitely appear to be in the back and midfield where we have returning players in every spot yet each position appears up for grabs. This is definitely one of the deepest teams we have ever had with at least 3 players capable of starting for our paired positions. We have already competed in 2 scrimmages – one against Division II Kutztown and the other against an extremely competitive alumni team. The Kutztown game was a great opportunity to play a strong quality opponent. Their quality was proven when they opened the season with a win against 8th ranked (Division II) Mercyhurst over the weekend. Even though we lost the game 1-0, we played very well defensively and were able to break them down several times. In the alumni game, we were able to get our first goal and prevailed 1-0 in an intensely competitive game. Both games gave us a chance to see all of our players in competitive games and a better idea of where we stand technically and tactically as a team. Our first game of the season is at Ursinus on Tuesday, September 1st. Ursinus is another team that I think is being underrated by their conference. They were picked to finish 8th in the Centennial Conference despite playing for the championship in 2007 and returning almost all of their players. They are a solid team that will be a great test and give us a better idea of what type of team we have this season. We lost our last game at Ursinus in 2006 by a score of 2-1. Both teams will probably use the same formations but will be considerably different personnel-wise. Championship, At Last!! - (11/11/08) In our 15th year of existence and in our 3rd championship game, the Moravian College women’s soccer program has finally won our first conference championship!! On Saturday, November 8th, on our home field, the Lady Greyhounds defeated Catholic 1-0 in double overtime on a goal by freshman Arielle Caldas. We started this season by beating Stevens Tech in double OT on a goal by Arielle and it was only fitting that we finished the conference championship the same way. I have been associated with Moravian Soccer as a coach and player since 1990 and Saturday was one of the best atmospheres we’ve ever had at a soccer game. We were able to secure homefield advantage in the playoffs by beating Drew on their “turf” on the last day of the season. Drew has been extremely tough defensively all year and it is always a difficult venue to get a result. After a pretty uneventful first half, we came out with a little more energy and tactical awareness in the 2nd half and were rewarded with a great goal. Diana Feldmann won a ball at midfield and played a great ball into space to Tracy Fitzpatrick. Tracy beat Drew’s defenders to the ball down the right side and played a great ball across to Jenelle Mirro to finish one time. Drew changed their formation to a 3-4-3 because they needed a win to stay alive for the playoffs and were able to put us under some pressure. We were able to sustain their attacks and put the game to bed by countering for the 2nd goal. Allie Valdetara got on the end of a good clearance and “chipped” their goalie for the finishing goal. Just like that – HOMEFIELD FOR THE PLAYOFFS! As a result of our victory over Drew in the last game of the season, we were also given another benefit besides homefield. We were given the opportunity to take on Juniata, who defeated us earlier in the season for our only loss in conference. Though we wanted to play Juniata, we also knew it would be really tough game as Juniata is a really good defensive team with several dangerous attacking players. Just as we thought, Juniata started the game strong and severely limited our chances on goal in the early stages. The game took a major turn when Tracy won a ball at midfield and looked for Allie making a great run down the right side of the field. Just as the defenders closed on Tracy, she played a nice ball through their defense right on stride for Allie to take one touch to prep the ball and then finish low and hard inside the near post. Similar to the Drew game, Juniata put more pressure on us after we scored but we played extremely well in the back and it allowed our midfield and forwards to have more success holding on to the ball. Just 10 minutes into the 2nd half, we were able to get the 2nd goal from a nice combination off one of Juniata’s goal kicks. Kim Gogel won the ball cleanly off the kick straight to Tracy. Tracy was able to lay the ball off to Arielle who struck the ball one time into the corner. ON TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP!! In the championship game, we drew #2 Catholic who beat Scranton in the semifinals. Though we were confident in our ability to win the game, we knew it would be extremely difficult to beat such a good team for the 4th time in less than a year. On cue, Catholic game to Bethlehem and played a great game against us in the rain and mud. They put us under extreme pressure all game and had several good scoring chances in the first 15 minutes alone. As we’ve done all year, we were very strong defensively in the final third and were able to hold them off by being aggressive on the ball and Cait Corrigan making a few good saves. The entire game was pretty back and forth with Catholic holding more of the possession but the Hounds being very dangerous on the counter attack. The best example took place in the last minute of regulation. Catholic got their best chance of the day but hit the post. Right off the clearance, we were able to play Tracy behind their defense only for the shot to go just wide of the post. Once the overtime started, we got the feeling something good was about to happen. In the 2nd overtime, we found Allie down the right side and she attacked the goal for what looked like it was going to be the game winner. As she shot the ball, it beat their GK and was heading into the top corner. Just as it was going in, it clipped the crossbar, dropped straight down on the line a bounced out! We couldn’t believe it and thought we were heading to PK’s! But out of nowhere with about 3 minutes to go, Arielle makes a great play to clip a ball off their right back and push it by their last defender. Once she got in the box, she cut it back to her right foot and hammered it by the GK on the ground. GAME OVER AND LANDMARK CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP!!! I must admit it was a pretty good feeling to greet the team after they mugged Arielle on the field. 10 years ago this August, I applied for the men’s soccer job at my alma mater and was asked to take over the newly started women’s soccer program as well. Little did I know we only had 13 players on the roster and 3 of them were GK’s! We scrapped together a few more players and managed to get through that first year with a few wins. While also coaching the men’s team, we were able to start getting a few good players and slowly build a respectable program. I thought we were always a tough team to play against but never able to get over that hump (usually that hump was two pretty good programs – Etown and Messiah). But as I watched the seniors collect that championship plaque, I couldn’t help but think of all the women that worked hard all these years to get us to this point – Carli Miller, Allison Kranchalk, Becky Matijasich, Stevie Ochse, Jackie Buschta, Megan Collins, Alisha Davy, Jill Newswanger, just to name a few – I could go on forever. All good players and Lady Greyhounds!! Every single one of them had a hand in this championship! Hopefully we can continue this in the future, more specifically the near future as in the NCAA tournament! Last week was probably the most important two games in the 2008 season for the Moravian women's soccer team. We hosted defending Landmark Conference champions Sranton on Wednesday afternoon and Catholic came to Bethlehem on Saturday. Standing at 1-1-1 before the games, we knew our playoff hopes were on the line this week. Apparently, the team was up to the task and ready for the challenge. Against Scranton, motivation was not an issue considering they defeated us twice last year including a 4-2 defeat in the Landmark championship game. The game could not have started in the first 3 minutes when JeriAnne picked off a Scranton pass just outside their penalty box and found Jenelle Mirro making a good run across the goal. Jenelle one touched the ball to Tracy who finished the ball off the left post for a 1-0 lead. We were able to increase the lead to 2-0 about 15 minutes later when Ali Frascella served a great ball into the penalty area off a short corner from Kim Gogel. The service found Tracy about six yards out wand she headed the ball into the net for her second goal of the match. The Hounds finished off the scoring early in the second half off a nice offensive sequence that lead to Allie Valdetara out wide right who served a great ball to the back post that Tracy again headed into the net. Hat-trick for Tracy and a much needed 3 points in the conference standings. After the nice victory over Scranton, the Hounds needed another strong performance on Saturday as Catholic came to our home field to avenge their two losses to us from last year. Again, we started the game strong but unlike the game on Wednesday, we did not immediately turn the good play into an early goal even though we had several good chances to score. As the half moved on, Catholic began to settle into the game and had a great chance to take the lead on an indirect free kick on a questionable foul call just outside our six. But our back held strong and cleared the ball. Within minutes, we broke through with a big goal. It was a pretty strong play where we worked the ball out wide to Allie who served a nice ball to the back post where Shannon McEvoy peeled back her run. Shannon headed the ball towards the goal and their GK make a nice save but the ball deflected off the crossbar and Arielle Caldas headed in the rebound for a 1-0 lead. The second half started similar to the most of the first until a Catholic forward turned a pretty harmless play into a goal. On a ball in our box while facing the opposite direction, their forward semi-biked a ball into the far corner that took us by surprise to tie the game. That was pretty much the end of their threat as we took back control of the game. Within two minutes, we regained our lead when we played a nice ball behind their backline that Tracy beat the GK to and slotted the ball to Arielle who finished in nicely. We had several good chances to put game away after that but some questionable referee decisions (some need to go over the “advantage” rule) and unlucky breaks (2 posts and 1 crossbar) held the lead to one goal until JeriAnne finished the game with a nice goal after she dribble two defenders at the top of the box. As for the rest of the season, we have one more game at Drew on Saturday, November 1st. If we win that game, will clinch the #1 seed in the conference tournament and host any games we play. As everyone knows, that is huge advantage for any team. We are fortunate to be playing some of our best soccer at the right time of the year. But we still have huge hurdles in front of us as all conference teams (especially the two teams from last week) are extremely good! As we approach the final few weeks of the season, the Moravian women’s soccer season will come down to Landmark Conference games against Susquehanna, Scranton, Catholic and Drew. We are happy that the first three games are all at home on our field. So far, the 2008 season has been extremely memorable with our trip to Europe, several great games against top teams and unfortunately, full of some unlucky injuries and tough losses (Etown and York come to mind). In total, we’ve had 7 of our regular players miss important games and have a few of them still on the sidelines. But through the injuries, we have continued to improve our play. As we enter the final weeks of conference play, we are currently 1-1 in the conference after losing at Juniata but beating Goucher in Baltimore. The Goucher game was a great confidence builder as 5 different players scored with Jenelle Mirro netting our third hat-trick of the season. The turning point in the game was Jenelle and Shannon McEvoy coming off the bench about the midpoint of the 1st half and each of them immediately finding the goal through some great link-up play with our midfield and forwards. The game was basically put out of reach when Jenelle scored her second goal 15 seconds into the 2nd half off a nice assist from Tracy Fitzpatrick. The Greyhounds continued our strong play with possibly our best overall performance (excluding finishing inside the six) with a 2-1 win over Cabrini on Wednesday, October 15th. In fact, we finally achieved one of our goals by coming back from a 1-0 deficit early in the 2nd half to win. It was the first time our team has done this since the NCAA tournament game in 2005 against W&L. In the win, we created 25 shots and 10 corners against a pretty good opponent. If not for a pretty good GK performance, and some pretty unexplainable near misses, we easily could have scored 5-6 goals. Tracy Fitzpatrick and Allie Valdetara scored the goals with some help from some deflections off Cabrini defenders to complete the comeback. In the next 3 weeks, the Greyhounds need to get at least 7 points from 4 games to assure a playoff spot. Luckily, we seem to have utilized the tough non-conference games to get us ready for the conference. Right now, we might be playing our best soccer this year. Just in time! Greyhounds on Four-Match Winning Streak - (9/15/08) After starting the season 1-1 at the Swarthmore Tournament, the Moravian women’s soccer team has won 4 straight games, only allowing one “own goal” in all four games. After winning both games against Smith College and Marywood in the Wilkes tournament last weekend, the Lady Greyhounds returned to Wilkes-Barre for games against Kings and Wilkes. In the Wilkes Tournament, we only gave up a total of 5 shots in two games with our GK’s making 3 saves. With 4 away games in the same area, the Hounds are becoming very familiar with the Wilkes-Barre area schools. In the midweek game against Kings, played under the lights on their new stadium fields, the team used 2 goals each from Tracy Fitzpatrick and Jenelle Mirro and another by Arielle Caldas to secure the game against the Monarchs. The only goal against in the 4 game win streak was an “own goal” against Kings less than a minute before halftime. The second half against Kings was pretty well played by the Hounds with 3 goals and several other great scoring chances. On the weekend against Wilkes, where we haven’t beaten the home team since 2001, the team picked up a hard fought 2-0 win against an extremely tough opponent. After starting the game very well with several good chances, the play became much more even throughout the first half. Wilkes was extremely dangerous all day off set pieces, especially corner kicks. After a couple of changes at halftime, we played much better and more aggressive in the second half. Our play was rewarded with a great goal by Shannon McEvoy midway through the half. The goal was set up by winning the ball in the midfield then freshman midfielder Diana Fieldmann attacking Wilkes outside defender. Diana played the ball wide to Arielle Caldas how served a great ball to the backpost for Shannon to finish with a diving header. Tracy Fitzpatrick finished the game off with our second headed goal, this time off a corner from Kim Gogel. This season has started pretty well for the Greyhounds but the schedule becomes very difficult over the next two weeks with games against Haverford, Elizabethtown and Eastern before our first conference game at Juniata. Luckily, the next three games are all at home where we have played pretty well over the last few years. Also, our scoring is much more balanced than previous years with 14 goals coming from 7 different players and 13 assists coming from 10 players. The next two weeks will be very important for us to improve as a team heading into Landmark Conference play.Women’s Soccer Squad Opens 2008 Season - (9/2/08) After taking the upperclassmen to Europe for 10 days at the beginning of August and 2 weeks of preseason, the Moravian women’s soccer team was excited to start the regular season against Stevens Tech and Swarthmore over Labor Day weekend. With that much preparation, we felt the team would be ready for the tough competition when we scheduled the games last year. Unfortunately, we picked up a few injuries along the way and played without several key players in the tournament. When we arrive at Swarthmore to play Stevens on Saturday night, we quickly realized our 7pm kickoff would be closer to an 8pm start due to other games on the field. Once kickoff arrived, we were ready to play and the opening 45 minutes showed as much. We defended well through the first 45 minutes against a technically strong Stevens team by holding them to a few long range efforts at goal that Cait Corrigan handled easily. We also countered their possession quickly with several attacks and were rewarded by a great goal by Allie Valdetara to put us ahead 1-0 at halftime. The second half was very similar with Stevens in possession and us working the counter attack. Their possession finally paid off when their central midfield player picked up a loose ball about 30 yards out and hit a great strike to our upper corner. We held on a bit at the end of regular time and headed to overtime. In the overtime, we played our best soccer and finished the game with 3 minutes remaining when freshman Arielle Caldas sprinted past Stevens backline to slot a pass from Allie past their keeper for the game winning goal. In Sunday’s game, we took on a well rested Swarthmore team that won the 2007 ECAC South Championship and beat Farmingdale 5-0 the day before. Although we worked extremely hard, we did not match Swarthmore’s energy level and the first half was played in our defensive third of the field. We did have several good counter attack opportunities but the pressure was too much and we gave up two goals to be down 2-0 at the half. We decided to change formations at the half and the start of the second half was much better than the first. We looked like we were going to get back into the game until a poor backpass to Cait lead to Swarthmore’s 3rd and deciding goal. Looking back at the weekend, we are disappointed with the result of Sunday’s game but learned what makes us a strong team and how we need to play to be successful. One positive out of the weekend was that we played almost all of our players including several freshmen in key situations and believe we have much more depth this year than ever before. We will work hard as a team this week to prepare for Smith and Marywood and are expecting to take a fully fit squad to the tournament. 2 wins should not be out of the question!
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