The Emory women’s soccer team had a successful past weekend, defeating both Berry College (Ga.) and Birmingham Southern University (Ala.) in a convincing fashion to improve to 6-2 on the season and extend their winning streak to five.
In their first match of the weekend at the Woodruff PE Center (WoodPEC) on Friday night, the Eagles faced off against a formidable Birmingham Southern (4-2-0) squad. While their opponents proved tough and resilient, the Eagles dominated this game.
Besides controlling possession and keeping the ball mostly in the opponents’ half of the field, Emory’s defense kept Birmingham Southern to a mere one shot and one shot on goal. Looking at the Eagles’ 29 shots — 13 of them on goal — it is safe to say that Emory controlled the game. However, the scoreboard did not reflect the way in which Emory dominated the game (the final score read 1-0).
Senior striker Jordan Morrell supplied the lone goal in the 74th minute, slotting a shot past the outstretched arms of a jumping Birmingham Southern keeper from inside the penalty box to put the Eagles ahead.
In their second match of the weekend, Emory faced off against Berry College (3-1-1). And once again — for the fifth straight game — Emory came out on top and in commanding style.
Emory struck first with a penalty kick by sophomore central midfielder/striker Melinda Altamore, her second of the season. After a Berry equalizer in the 56th minute, Emory’s junior striker Cristina Ramirez took over.
Ramirez scored in the 77th minute on a hard shot past Berry’s keeper and again five minutes later in the 82nd on a cross from sophomore central midfielder Anna Gurney. The goals gave Ramirez her team-leading third and fourth scores of the season. Emory’s defense kept Berry to only four shots, with three on goal, compared to Emory’s 17 shots with 10 on goal.
“I think that we, as a team, we realized where we have to improve.” Ramirez said. “We have a huge game coming up this weekend against a #1 team, so I think it’s important that we came up with two wins and scored a lot of goals this weekend. We have a very young team, but I think with that being said we’ve done a really great job with all the freshman on the team. I’m looking forward to winning more games.”
Emory will face off against Brooklyn College (Ny.) this Friday at home.
Avery Yang is a College sophomore from Los Angeles, California, by way of New York City.
