After starting the season 5-0-1 and allowing just one goal in six games, the women’s soccer team is preparing for its two upcoming matches in the William and Mary Tournament.
This week, coaches are stressing ball possession and taking advantage of scoring opportunities in order to prepare for a contest against host William and Mary on Friday and one against Virginia Commonwealth on Sunday.
“We look forward to this game [against William and Mary]. It’s going to be a good contest if we continue playing the way we’ve been playing,” coach Laura Kerrigan said.
“We had scrimmaged William and Mary in preseason a year ago, and we thought we stacked up pretty well against them.”
On Tuesday, the team got a visit from strength and conditioning coach Wright Wayne to do plyometrics that, according to Kerrigan, are intended to make the team quicker and more resistant to injury.
“It’s not too tough, so it’s not like we’re going to be sore. But it’s just enough to maintain the strength that we have,” senior goalkeeper Megan Connors said.
“I try to get into the weight room as much as I can because I need to be as strong as I can playing goal. Trying to maintain that strength is key for me. It’s going to help with diving and all that.”
After the most recent contest, a 2-0 victory Sunday against American, Kerrigan said she was pleased with the way the team possessed the ball and scored in the first half. But she added things bogged down in the second half. Now, she said, the team is focused on playing well in both halves.
“We’re making some huge strides in our possessions, and it’s coming out in our game play,” Kerrigan said. “This week we’ll work a lot more with finishing because we had a lot more opportunities to put the ball away last weekend, and we didn’t put it away as much as we should have.”
Kerrigan said she loosened up some practice restrictions to try to improve holding the ball, and she added she was pleased with the results.
“We’ve been really focusing on possession in the last couple weeks, and we’ve put some touch limitations on people. And today we kind of opened it up,” Kerrigan said.
“We needed to experiment. We were going to leave it open to see if we needed to put some touch limitations on, but we played it very quickly.”
Meanwhile, Connors has made 20 saves so far with a save percentage of .952.
“We’re working hard. We’re a very intense team. We work well together, so it all carries over onto the field,” Connors said.
With the William and Mary, and Virginia Commonwealth matches looming, freshman Briana Cunningham said she hopes the team can use the weekend to gain some recognition.
“We’re definitely trying to get prepared for it and get a big win. Hopefully we’ll be ranked by the end of this week,” Cunningham said.