By GAB RUSSO For The News-Letter
The women’s soccer team took on the Haverford College Fords on Saturday, Oct. 17 in their 13th game of the season. The Lady Jays beat their opponent 1-0, making their overall record 9-3-1 and their conference record 5-1-0.
Coming off of a win last weekend against the Ursinus College Bears, the Lady Jays had a full week of rest going into this game in Haverford, Pa. Haverford now has a record of 9-3-1 and a conference record of 2-3-1.
From the beginning of the game, it was obvious it was going to be a tough battle for Hopkins.
“Haverford always comes out hard and puts up a good fight,” junior Vania Ludman.
Knowing this, the Lady Jays had to adjust the aggression of their play.
Ursinus was aggressive, Ludman said, and the Jays had to play frantically.
”But we focused on playing our game and pulled it together in the second half to come out with the win,” she said.
Hopkins was able to calm down and keep their composure but was unable to convert any opportunities into goals.
At the start of the second half, the Lady Jays remained strong but were still unable to get on the scoreboard.
Around the 70th minute, Ludman threaded a ball to junior Meg Van de Loo into the box, but Van de Loo was fouled and awarded a penalty kick. Van de Loo converted the kick into what turned out to be the only goal of the game. This was her 12th goal of the season.
Junior goalie Clara Aranguren only needed to make one save this game. This was their third shutout in a row, bringing the season total to five.
Hopkins surpassed Haverford in shots, leading 9-6 overall. Van de Loo and senior Alaina Arthur led the team in shots taken, with two each this game.
The University’s new formation continues to bring the team success, as they outplayed Haverford with impressive possession and managed to stay composed on the ball despite Haverford’s overall aggressive playing.
“With the new formation, the offense is very different but in a good way,” senior Issy Berkey said.
The key to this new way of playing is unifying the team from the offense to the defense and making possession the number-one priority.
“If we move as a unit with the new formation, the other team will be easily caught off guard,” Berkey said. “Our high-pressure defense will be able to win the ball back when we lose it in our offensive third.”
The key to any team’s success is keeping the energy high throughout the whole game.
“We kept the tempo up by keeping our movement quick. It will be very hard for anyone to stop us,” Berkey said.
As the Lady Jays settle into this new formation, they will look to see more successes on the pitch by constantly pressuring their opponents from every angle.
The ending score of 1-0 showcases how tough this match was for Hopkins, especially with the only goal of the game coming from a penalty kick. This shows that although the new formation helping them keep possession, they’re still lacking the connection in the final third to convert in high-pressure situations that come with an aggressive team like Haverford.
With this win Hopkins is still ranked third in the conference, behind the Swarthmore College Garnet and the McDaniel College Green Terror, who tied this past weekend when they played each other.
On Wednesday, Oct. 21 the Lady Jays travel to take on the Dickinson College Red Devils for another conference game. Dickinson is ranked fifth in the Centennial Conference with a conference record of 3-3-1 and an overall record of 7-5-2.
