QUINTIN JAMES
Staff Writer
Coming off the Clarion Hotel Classic at home which saw the Blue Devils win their first two games of the season, the Fredonia women’s soccer team looked to continue their hot play during their non-conference schedule.
After starting the season with two losses where they didn’t score a single goal, they rattled off two back-to-back shootout wins and they looked to continue their great defensive play.
After talking with Coach Christopher Case, there have been a lot of surprises so far this year. Sophomore goalie Kendall Owczarak and sophomore Karly Torppey are a couple of bright spots for the team thus far in the new season.
Talking with Torppey this week, she said the chemistry is high this year but they’re a few things they need to do better, particularly “possession, communication, and defending as team.”
If they improve on a few things, the consistency will show and the wins will pile up.
But the plan that they had didn’t pan out this week, as they dropped both games on their schedule. They had a tough assignment last Tuesday, as they faced number two ranked William Smith Herons on the road. The game was ugly and over before it even started as the Blue Devils got hammered 7-0. Williams Smith outshot the Blue Devils 26-1 and had 14 shots on goal to the Blue Devils’ zero.
The Blue Devils kept the game close in the first half after conceding a goal in the 14th minute, but then they allowed three goals in the 36th minute that spoiled any upset bid the Blue Devils were trying to make.
After that terrible loss, they looked to bounce back at home, but they didn’t get any home cooking as they dropped their second game of the week to Rochester Institute of Technology 1-0 on a goal in the 34th minute by Sami Alur.
Again, the Blue Devils were outshot 28-7 overall and 14-3 shots on goal. Goalkeeper Kendall Owczarzak made 13 saves in an impressive outing, but the offense simply just couldn’t get it going as they fell in a heartbreaker.
Now their record drops to 2-4 with conference play looming around the corner. Coach Case knows what the team needs to do to improve on before conference play begins, and he feels like they’re improving.
“We need to fix our defensive shape and movement off the ball. In addition, we will struggle unless we change the level of intensity that we play with. If we play with intensity and be smart, I feel we are going to do quite well,” Case said.
The next couple of weeks should be interesting for the Blue Devils as they start getting into the meat of the schedule. Five of their next six games are on the road, and this stretch will be a turning point in the Blue Devils’ season. Senior Alexis Moreland knows that once conference play starts, the competition gets harder and she and the other five seniors on the roster are making sure everyone is prepared for it.
“To the underclassmen, right now we are preparing them for conference play and reminding them that it really is a season inside a season. We’ve had enough games now where they are aware of the competition we face and how to acclimate to it compared to conference play,” Moreland said. She went on to add that they are prepared for Geneseo this weekend.
Being a senior, Moreland knows that no matter how good or bad you start, conference play is a chance to make the playoffs and make a run.
“When we start conference play it’s a whole new season, that’s how we look at it and any games before no longer matter. Conference play is a lot different and mean more than our other games, so as long as we have a winning record in SUNYAC’s, that’s all our team is striving for now,” she said.
Dropping two or three games at the start of conference isn’t ideal and the Blue Devils will hope to avoid putting themselves in a deep hole early on in the season.