The women’s soccer team looked strong in the opening weekend of the 2012 NCAA Division III tournament, handling DePauw University (Ind.) and seventh ranked Centre College (Ky.) by scores of 2-0 each. The Eagles extended their record to 13-1-6, while DePauw and Centre fell to 7-11-1 and 20-2 respectively.

“We haven’t scored goals for a while so it was exciting for us to put a few in the net,” Head Coach Sue Patberg said. “We played with purpose and a lot of heart. It was good to see the spark back.”

In their opening game against DePauw, the Eagles made their presence known in the opening minutes, with junior forward Veronica Romero driving a booming shot past the Tiger’s goaltender. The score was Romero’s team leading eighth goal of the season and it snapped a 405-minute scoring drought for Emory.

The Eagles continued to apply the pressure in the early minutes of the second half. In the 48th minute, sophomore forward Emily Feldman received senior midfielder Lee Bachouros’s corner kick via junior Lauren Gorodetsky’s header and sent it into the net for her fifth goal of the season.

DePauw was never able to find its rhythm as the Eagles contained the Tigers to just four shots over the course of the game. The senior goalie tandem of Kaele Leonard and Erica Stein was once again terrific, with Leonard saving all three shots sent her way and Stein notching her seventh win of the season.

Leonard and Stein have recorded 15 clean slates in the 2012 campaign, including six in the last seven games.

The Eagles finished with 29 shots, 16 of which were on goal. Romero and Feldman led the team with four shots apiece. Feldman and sophomore defender Kaelyn Lucas topped the Eagles with three shots on goal each.

In the second round match against Centre, the Eagles built an early lead against the Colonels; in the 17th minute, sophomore forward Charlotte Butker netted her fifth goal of the season after receiving junior midfielder Greta Jochmann’s corner kick. She and Romero lead the team with 20 points on the season.

“Charlotte is one of those players who has a great work rate and energy and tremendous amount of tenacity,” noted Patberg. She has been passing fantastically for us; Charlotte’s will and determination is always a force to be reckon with.”

Stein played a pivotal role for the Eagles in the first half, stopping back-to-back shot attempts off a free kick, and saving six shots. Leonard continued the dominant goalkeeping play in the second half, saving all four shot attempts to come in her direction, including three in the 53rd minute alone, while improving her record to 5-1-5 on the season.

Emory’s brilliant corner kick play helped them put the game out of reach in the 63rd minute. Butker’s corner kick fell right to junior midfielder Kelly Costopoulos, who netted her team leading eighth goal of the season, tying her with Romero.

“We have had so many corner kicks in the last three games, there was no way we were going to let all the opportunities go without one falling our way,” said Patberg.

Although the Eagles won handily, the Colonels put up a strong fight throughout the course of the game, matching the Eagles with 14 shots, 10 of which were on goal.

The Eagles have now won at least one tournament game in their last nine trips to the NCAA tournament. With these two victories, they have surpassed their .500 record in postseason play and are now 13-11-4, 10-5-1 under Head Coach Sue Patberg.

This is the second straight year that Emory has defeated Centre College in the NCAA tournament.

“The deeper you move in the tournament the better the teams are,” noted Patberg. “We are going to have to bring conviction and urgency stay consistent all the way through.”

The Eagles next play Loras College (Iowa) on Nov. 17 at Carnegie Mellon University (Penn) in the round of 16. This will be the Eagle’s ninth trip to Sweet 16 in the NCAA Division III Championships and the third straight season they have reached this mark.

By Drew Heuman-Gutman 

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The Emory Wheel was founded in 1919 and is currently the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel publishes weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions.

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