By: Greg Fitzpatrick
Staff Writer
The Springfield College women’s soccer team was defeated by the Amherst College Lord Jeffs on Wednesday night. It was a game of opportunities, and the Lord Jeffs took full advantage of them.
The Pride and the Lord Jeffs went back and forth with possessions in the first 15 minutes. Each team shared shots on net until Amherst gained control of their possession and took advantage.
Kate Sisk scored an unassisted goal for Amherst at the 27 minute mark. Pride goalkeeper Lucy Gillet quickly jumped out of the goalie box as the ball was rolling towards Springfield territory. With defenders nearby, Gillet hustled to get to the ball first, but the crafty Sisk beat Gillet to the ball, and lofted a shot that sailed into the net.
It was made certain that errors were a key breakthrough en route to the Lord Jeffs’ scoring frenzy. As the first half went on, Amherst never let up their aggressive play on both sides of the field. They never allowed the Lady Pride to keep possession for too long.
Lord Jeffs’ forward Megan Kim also scored an unassisted goal to increase the Amherst lead to 2-0. With 15:40 remaining in the first half, the Pride were being outworked with every possession.
Pride coach John Gibson was aware of Amherst’s dominance, but felt the game was played evenly.
“The game was really even if you take away the goals,” Gibson said. “They created more off their opportunities.”
Gibson was on point with his comments. The Lady Pride did outplay Amherst in some aspects. Springfield outshot Amherst 11-6 and took all five corner kicks in the game.
At the end of the first half, each team had four shots on goal. Springfield turned up their intensity at the start of the second half.
There started to be a feeling that the Pride would get on the board, but their opportunities fell just short. Sophomore midfielder Jessica Miller took a shot that went well over the net, but started a solid offensive rhythm for the pride.
Miller’s teammate, Mariah Ferrara, took a hard shot that went just over the net to the right. But, just when Springfield was increasing their intensity on offense, the Lord Jeffs turned it around and took the ball into the Pride’s territory.
Amherst forward Hannah Cooper added to the scoring with a shot from long distance that bended to the right of the goal with 28:45 left to make it 3-0.
Lord Jeffs’ senior forward Chloe Mckenzie put one in the net just inside the Pride’s goalie box. The goal was set up by a nice pass from Amherst forward Sarah Duffy. Mckenzie’s goal put the score at 4-0 with 20:09 remaining in the second half.
Gibson was not pleased with the defeat, but knows they can only get better from here.
“We need to learn from our mistakes here. That is a top-quality team we faced. We need to build from it and get ready for Coast Guard,” Gibson added.
The Pride dropped to 3-2 overall and Amherst boosts their record to 2-0-1. Springfield will be preparing for a very important away game on Saturday. The Lady Pride will travel to New London, Conn. to face rival Coast Guard in their first NEWMAC game.