The Women's Soccer team started off their 2014 season strongly with a tie and a win in their first two matches.
The squad had an impressive run during their 2013 season, finishing off with a 16-4-1 record. Among their achievements, the Eagles tied for the second highest win total in the program's history and also entered the NCAA Division III Championships for the fourth time in a row.
In an upsetting double overtime loss, the Eagles finished their season after falling 1-0 to Wheaton College in the tournament.
"We have a lot of returning and incoming talent so we are all very excited for this season," sophomore forward Cristina Ramirez said.
Although the Eagles lost some big-gun seniors, like the three-time UAA Most Valuable Player winner Lauren Gorodetsky, and First Team All-UAA member Kelly Costopoulos, the roster looks all the more promising with returners such as sophomore defender Hannah Meyer, who received the UAA Rookie of the Year award last season, and junior goaltender Liz Arnold who earned a starting position as goaltender during her sophomore year.
But with a large pool of freshman joining the squad, returning
players will take on even bigger roles as they try to fill the gaps left behind by the seven graduated seniors.
"This season is definitely a fresh start for us," Arnold said. "We lost some important seniors, but also gained twelve freshmen and one transfer."
Emory kicked off the 2014 season against Christopher Newport University in Virginia Beach, VA as part of the Atlantic Orthopaedic Specialists Classic.
The match-up proved a tough one as Christopher Newport University (Va.) took the lead in the first half of play.
The Eagles bounced back almost twenty minutes later when Ramirez found the back of the net.
But scoring action would not resume for the rest of the
game as the two evenly-matched teams battled back and forth.
After two 10-minute overtimes, the game settled in a 1-1 tie.
Emory controlled a majority of the game out-shooting Christopher Newport 18-6, and leading 10-4 in shots on goal.
Arnold made three critical saves in the overtime period that preserved the tie.
Among other highlights, senior forward Emily Feldman led the team in shots, adding five in total and three on goal, while senior forward Karina Rodriguez aimed four shots, two being on net.
The team bounced back from the tie in their next game in the Atlantic Orthopaedic Specialists Classic against Virginia Wesleyan College.
The Eagles defeated the host team in a decisive 2-0 win.
Meyer put Emory on board with her first career goal in the first half. It came off a play that ignited when Rodriguez took a corner kick that found senior central midfielder Jennifer Grant.
Grant played it back to Rodriguez, who then sent the ball whizzing through the middle of the six-yard box to find Meyer, who fired the ball into the back of the net.
The Eagles did not yield; late in the second half of play, Ramirez evaded a defender and slid the ball right outside the 18-yard box to find Grant, who then sent a shot sailing over the goalkeeper's head.
Grant increased the lead 2-0, which stood for the latter of the game. The Eagles out-shot the Marlins 14-3, including a 7-0 advantage in shots on goal.
"We want to continue to make progress," Arnold said. "We had two really good matches. They were a good way for us to prepare for Trinity."
--By Zoe Elfenbein
