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Printer-Friendly ModeWomen's soccer team's GLIAC title hopes dashed
October 31, 2005 —
The SVSU women's soccer team came into this past weekend with a 6-0 GLIAC record and a chance to win its first GLIAC championship in school history. The team's dreams, however, were dashed as they lost twice during the weekend at #11 Grand Valley State and at Ferris State.
The Cardinals went into the weekend knowing how important these two games were for the team to finish off the successful season. Junior Kelly Pruitt pointed out that the fact that they were underdogs coming into the season should give them confidence enough to take care of business on the road.
"We have worked so hard all season and no one thought we would make it this far being undefeated and having a chance at being GLIAC champions," she said.
The Cardinals lost to Ferris yesterday when the Bulldogs used a stingy defense and a powerful offense to defeat SVSU 2-0.
Jen Gaylor got the scoring off to a start with her 10th goal of the season at the 39:16 mark of the first half to make the score 1-0. The Bulldogs added another goal in the second half on Heather O'Keefe's fifth goal of the season.
The Cardinals played a predominately defensive game as the Bulldogs peppered the Cardinals by taking 24 shots and putting 11 on the net. The Cardinals, however, took 11 shots and could only get four on the net.
The real crushing loss came to Grand Valley the day before. The Lakers used two goals in the first three minutes of the game to keep the Cardinals on their heels and escape with the 3-1 victory.
Jenny Swalec scored in the first minute of the game with a shot from the top of the box to make it a 1-0 game. Two minutes later freshman Katy Tafler scored her 21st goal of the season to give the Lakers the early 2-0 lead.
The Cardinals finally got on the board on freshman Tammie Edmunds' goal at the 64:46 mark of the second half. Tafler answered with a breakaway goal at the 79:36 mark to give the Lakers the decisive 3-1 lead.
Again, the Cardinals played defensive soccer, as the Lakers took 23 shots and put 12 of them on net. The Cardinals could only take 11 shots while only putting four of them on net.
The Cardinals were in action on Saturday, Oct. 22 for their biggest game of the season with a contest against then-league-leading Ashland. The aggressive Cardinals earned the 3-1 victory for their first victory against Ashland in 11 tries, and was Ashland's first conference loss in over a year.
Winning the game, which was played inside Wickes Stadium, gave the unbeaten Cardinals the lead in the GLAIC.
The Cardinals struck first with a goal by sophomore Mara Dedomenicis at 17:17 of the first half. The Cardinals added another goal by freshman Stephanie Roy at 56:08 of the second half, and Pruitt added another goal at 63:11 of the second half. Maria Manso scored the lone Ashland goal off a penalty kick at 77:33 of the second half.
Junior Stacy LaLond got the win in net for the Cardinals by making 12 saves on a tough Ashland offense. Pruitt explained how the win did so many things for the program and for the team.
"The win against Ashland was huge for the program," she said. "We not only gave Ashland their first GLIAC loss in a couple of years, but it also shows how far this team has come this season."
One strong point of the Cardinals this season has been the stellar play of the defense, and their seasoned veteran goalkeeper LaLond. LaLond has showed off so many skills in the past few weeks that she was named GLIAC Player of the Week for the week of October 20. LaLond takes her credit but also points to her defense and how they have helped this season.
"It is a big honor to be named GLIAC Player of the Week, but I owe it all to my defense," she said.
LaLond has logged over 1,000 minutes in the net this season, and she was the only Cardinal to see any action in there. She finished the season with 88 saves and an 8-4-1 record with two shutouts. The defense knows that they would not be as strong as they were without a goalie back there that they can trust in.
"Stacy is our safety net in goal," said senior Julie Connor. "She has saved us in many games and is an amazing goalie. She is the glue to our defense."
Communication is a large part of the team and is essential to success. LaLond gives her team that communication that they need to hear and offers nothing but support to her stellar defense.
"When our defense breaks down, we know that Stacy will be over there to cover our backs," Connor said. "She is a very smart goalie, and she is always talking to us back there and directing us where to go."