The black jerseys did the trick. For the first and second time in school history, the women’s soccer team wore black kits while also defeating the Rams and the Midshipmen, 1-0, on Friday and Sunday, respectively, at Dail Soccer Stadium.
Although both games only had one goal, the gameplay and means of scoring were quite different in comparison. According to Coach Steve Springthorpe , however, a goal is a goal and a win is a win.
“All it takes is one goal and a shutout,” Springthorpe said, “and you can win.”
The lone goal from the Friday game against Virginia Commonwealth came in minute 27 from senior forward Tanya Cain. Cain drilled in a direct shot to the left of the goal from the middle of the penalty box, after a cross from redshirt sophomore Meagan Proper was mishandled by the Ram defense, after being delivered from the right corner of the pitch. Cain described the events as a “broken play.”
“We never stop,” Cain said. “At first I think we both thought we were offside, but nothing was called. She [Proper] just kept going, so we kept on playing. Julia [ Sandridge ] was able to get the ball into [Megan] Proper, and she was the one who crossed it over.”
After Cain’s blast into the net, not much was seen from the Wolfpack’s offense. The team sat back on their haunches and took an offensive onslaught from the Rams for the rest of match, but no one was able to beat senior goalkeeper Kim Kern. Springthorpe was pleased with the team’s performance in their first regular season game of the year.
“We’re going to take a lot from it,” Springthorpe said. “We’re going to watch film, we’re going to see where we broke down, we’re going to see where we are at defensively and we’ll check the fitness level of our team. We’ve got three great games coming up, and maybe we [will] just keep on rolling.”
And roll, they did. In their second game of the weekend, the Pack came out with loads of confidence against the Midshipmen. In an absolute offensive onslaught, NCSU kept the ball on the Navy side of the field for the majority of the match. With a whopping 13 shots and 14 corners, it’s amazing to consider that no goals resulted from them. Cain was not impressed with the Pack’s finishing ability.
“Honestly, it is a bit disappointing,” Cain said. “13 corners and 14 shots. We couldn’t really find the back of the net today. But we definitely battled and that’s what mattered. We got the win and, hey, we’ll take a win any way we can.”
Like Springthorpe said, it only takes one. That one came from senior defender Alex Berger in the 88th minute. The icing on the cake – it was her first goal ever in her four years of playing for the Wolfpack . After Cain was taken down in the box with a dangerous tackle from behind, team captain Berger stepped up to the penalty spot for redemption. Berger slotted the ball into the net, just barely out of reach from the Navy keeper. The joy in Berger’s face was still present after the game.
“I just thank God that I hit it just hard enough,” Berger said. “The keeper made an amazing attempt at it. I’m so happy it was my first goal.”
After the game, Springthorpe mentioned how he looks to Proper and freshman defender Shelli Spamer to be the creative directors in deadball situations.
“[ Spamer ] and Morgan Proper split the time serving corners,” Springthorpe said. “Shellie has a great service. She can kick it a long way and with great accuracy. As long as she stays healthy and things work out, then she’ll continue to take a lot of those for us.”
Springthorpe left the field with a focus on what he wants his team to work on before their next home match against Old Dominion on Friday.
“We need to work on our finishing,” Springthorpe said. “14 shots and 13 corner kicks, you don’t see too many teams that get that many corner kicks and nothing out of it. That’s a credit to Navy; they were very good in the air. We’ll have to work a bit more on our finishing and our set pieces. That will be our focus this week and going into the future.”
