The Emory University men’s and women’s soccer teams opened United Athletic Association (UAA) conference play by hosting Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) (WashU) on Oct. 5. The women’s team fell 2-1 to No. 1 WashU, and the men’s team won 5-2.
Missed opportunities cost women’s soccer against No. 1 team
The No. 13 Emory women’s soccer team entered the game against first seed WashU with a 6-1-1 record and had no shortage of expectations going into Saturday’s bout against the Bears. The Eagles fought hard before a large crowd at the George W. Woodruff Physical Education Center but ultimately lost 2-1.
After goals from WashU freshman forward Olivia Clemons in the first half and sophomore forward Madison Foley in the second, the Eagles found themselves down 2-0 and forced to generate opportunities late in the game in order to equalize. Emory created several late opportunities, but WashU held firm and secured a 2-1 victory.
Emory ended the game with 12 shots, the most important of which was sophomore forward Kaitlyn Nimmer’s goal with around eight minutes left to go in the game. Nimmer credited her teammate senior midfielder Chayse Corfman for finding her the opportunity.
“It was towards the end of the game, we were down 2-0 and had a pretty far-away free kick,” Nimmer said. “Chayse did a really good job recovering the scramble in front of the box, and then I found myself with a wide-open shot … I just went for the long-range shot, and thankfully, it went in.”
With several great opportunities to equalize toward the end of the game, Nimmer believes the team has areas to improve on in future games.
“We have to be able to finish in key moments and not make mistakes that cost goals,” Nimmer said. “Both of the goals [were] easily preventable, which is also good news moving forward, so just making sure we're sharp at all times so we can get the result we want.”
Senior defender Claudia Schmidt echoed similar sentiments, saying that the team’s strong performance against the best team in the country proves they can compete with anyone.
“We were close to scoring a second goal and tying it up,” Schmidt said. “So I think it just instilled a lot of confidence in the team that we can do this, and we're good enough to be here and we're good enough to compete.”
Schmidt also said that it was important “not to look too far ahead” in the season and to understand the importance of every game, especially as six of their seven UAA conference opponents are ranked nationally. Moving forward, the women’s team will look to build upon Saturday’s game for the upcoming UAA matchups against No. 12 Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) on Oct. 13 and No. 4 Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.) on Oct. 19.
Junior midfielder Josh Grand weaves through Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) defenders on Oct. 5.
Men’s soccer begins conference play strong with second-half scoring burst
After suffering narrow 1-0 losses to Covenant College (Ga.) on Sept. 21 and Oglethorpe University (Ga.) on Oct. 1, the Emory men’s soccer team needed nothing more than to open the UAA conference with a win. In their way was a talented WashU team that posed the Eagles many threats.
WashU junior forward Zach Susee opened the scoring in the first half with what Emory graduate forward Ryan Winkler described as a “crazy” shot, sending the Eagles into the locker room down a goal. Winkler said the halftime locker room talk was filled with questions about how to proceed.
“The mentality was really like, 'Alright, this is it,’” Winkler said. “‘Our backs are against the wall. What are we going to do from here? What type of team are we trying to be?’ And I think everyone put their heads down and said, ‘We're just simply not going to lose this game.’”
Junior midfielder Josh Grand had a similar outlook and said the team's recent frustrations contributed to their shift in mindset.
“It was a similar feel of we've been playing better than them, we felt like we were the better team, but ultimately, the scoreline did not reflect that,” Grand said. “We’ve walked through too many games with that mentality and kind of just looked around and told each other, ‘This is it.’”
Emory mounted quite the response in the second half, scoring four unanswered goals, with three within 4-minutes . Winkler opened the scoring for the Eagles in the 56th minute, with junior defender Owen Clark and Grand following shortly after. Winkler scored Emory’s fourth goal in the 68th minute. After the game, Winkler applauded the team’s effort in the comeback win.
“In that game, I felt we were really generating a lot of chances, and in previous games, we've struggled to put some away,” Winkler said. “But guys stepped up. Owen had a great goal, Josh had a great goal and then I had the last one in that little flurry.”
Grand also said he enjoyed seeing the scoring distribution and collective team effort.
“It’s kind of what our team is all about, everyone playing their part and being bought in to do something big,” Grand said.
After goals by WashU freshman forward Jamie Lee and Emory freshman forward Jake Breitegan late in the second half, the game ended as an inspiring 5-2 win for the men’s team. With a record of 4-5-1, Grand is hopeful that the Eagles’ scoring spree will continue and said it was “relieving” to end their multi-game scoring drought. Both Grand and Winkler said the team needs to prioritize a win-or-go-home mentality moving forward in order to qualify for the national tournament.
“Treat it like a final,” Winkler said. “Treat it like it’s our last chance to play soccer and then go out, defend hard, try and limit as many chances as we can for them and score some goals and be aggressive always.”
The men’s team will look to continue their UAA momentum against Case Western at home on Oct. 13.
