Monday, November 16, 2009

Stevenson Women's Soccer Sweeps All-CAC Awards


After an amazing season the Mustangs were honored by the CAC Coaches. The honors and accomplishments of the 2009 season continued for the Stevenson women's soccer team on Thursday as the Mustangs had five players named to the All-CAC first or second team as well as the CAC Player, Rookie and Coach of the Year honors.

Leading the way was sophomore Stephanie Eyler (Thurmont/Catoctin) who was named CAC Player of the Year, freshman Melinda Kane (Baltimore/Mercy) who was named CAC Rookie of the Year and head coach Graeme Millar who was named CAC Coach of the Year.

In addition, senior Katie Decker (White Hall/Hereford) and juniors Allison Humphries (Bel Air/John Carroll) and Kaitlyn Amos (Baltimore/Catholic) all received All-CAC honors.

CAC ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Mustangs Edged by Swarthmore In ECAC Semi-Finals


Despite losing three starters to injury in the first half, the Stevenson women's soccer team remained competitive with a team that was nationally-ranked until a week ago before falling in the final 10 minutes to Swarthmore, 1-0 in the semifinals of the ECAC Division III South Championship Saturday at Spring Run Stadium. It was a fantastic performance considering the injuries, poor field conditions and inconsistent officiating.

With the loss, Stevenson finished the season with a school record 15 victories, tying the mark set by the 2006 squad. The team also set a school record with a 10-game win streak from September 26 to November 4 and won a share of the CAC regular season title. The Mustangs also went unbeaten in 12 out of 13 games at home, winning 10.

Saturday also marked the final game in the careers of seniors Lauren Bauer (Baltimore/Bel Air) and Katie Decker (White Hall/Hereford). Both appeared in 40 of the team's 41 games over the last two seasons with Bauer totaling three assists in 30 starts and Decker adding 23 points on four goals and 15 assists in 39 starts. These two players contributed a great deal in the last two seasons and I only wish I could have coached them for 4 years. They are both outstanding students and both played an integral part in our success this season.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Women's Soccer Advances to ECAC Semifinals


After the loss in the CAC Final, our fantastic group of players bounced back with an exciting win over Moravian. Freshman Kayla Curry scored her first career goal just over three minutes into the second overtime to keep the Mustangs unbeaten in our last 12 as we posted a 3-2 victory over Moravian Wednesday in the first round of the ECAC Division III South Championship.

The win was the first for Stevenson (15-3-2) in three ECAC appearances and ties a school record for wins in a season set by the 2006 squad. This was a great win in tough conditions and helped our team advance to the ECAC Semi-finals against Swarthmore, a nationally ranked program during the season, on Saturday.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Mustangs Achieve ECAC Tournament Berth

After our phenomenal season, we have been awarded for our strong record with a spot in the ECAC tournament. We have been given the number 2 seed and will face a very good landmark conference team, Moravian College. The team and I are excited that our season is not over yet and we can get another chance to finish our season with a title. The game will be at 2pm on Wednesday at Owings Mills. I hope you will be there to support our team!

OUR TEAM IS BRILLIANT!!!

This posting has taken me a couple of days to write as I found it hard to really put down what happened on Saturday in the CAC Final. We played one of our best games but still just came up a little short. The players gave everything and showed great strength and character after a late goal. We dominated the first half and overtime with the wind playing a huge factor in the second half. We scored two amazing goals, Stephanie Eyler hitting a beauty from 20 yards out and Heather Redding finishing in the bottom corner after some great combination play. Unfortunately, we were good but did not have the luck to complete the win. 

This has been a very successful season and this loss does not take away from all we have achieved. With a young team and in only our 3rd year in the CAC, we finished 2009 CAC Regular Season Co-Champions and made the CAC Final. We achieved our first regional ranking in the NCAA and NSCAA and finished with a 14-3-2 record with a school record 10 consecutive wins. We also beat 3 NCAA tournament teams, Christopher Newport, Frostburg and Mary Washington and just lost out to Catholic and Virginia Wesleyan who also made the tournament. This program is going places and I am going to make sure we continue to be successful.

All this success does not amount to just how brilliant this team really is. The players work hard and have fun every single day in practice while juggling class schedules, studying, and work. They are very unselfish and support each other through the good times and the bad times. I respect every single one of my players and I am confident that each one of them is going to be successful in life and work. I hope we can continue the season by getting an ECAC bid today as I am not ready to stop being a part of this amazing team!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!

THIS TEAM IS UNBELIEVABLE!!!! I am so proud of this group of players. I know I say it all the time but I truly believe in this squad. The girls on this team are amazing, they work so hard in practice every day, they do not complain, they listen, learn and work hard. We have fun in every practice and I am so happy that I am a part of this program.  A great win today, 3-2 over a very strong York team and now a home game in the CAC Championship against UMW.  We are a brilliant fun team and I am really happy that I could coach such a great group of young ladies and future babysitters!! I am so proud of you all!!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Nine Game Win Streak to End Regular Season


A new SU soccer record was achieved in our last regular season game against Goucher College. We won a school record ninth consecutive time to end the regular season with 13-3-1 record. The game was played in terrible conditions with the rain lashing down all day making the playing surface difficult to play our fast flowing passing game. We scored early and took a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Eyler and Redding. We gave up one just before the half but started strong in the second half with Eyler scoring another to make it 3-1. That would hold up as we played out the game until Goucher scored with just over a minute left from a long free-kick. It was not our best performance but it was great to get the win over a local rival after having played two difficult games the week before in the CAC. So the regular season ended with many firsts for our program:

1. We finished 2009 CAC Regular Season Co-Champions. This was an amazing achievement considering it is only our third season in the very competitive CAC.
2. We recorded a new school record with nine consecutive wins.
3. We got our first ever ranking in the NSCAA South Atlantic region and just last week in the NCAA South Region. We have been ranked in the NSCAA for the past six weeks and we currently stand at number 8. We also moved into the NCAA rankings at number 8 after last weeks two huge wins over York and UMW.

This has been a very successful year for our young program and I am so proud of our team. We have achieved so much with a great group of players that work hard in practice every day and who really know the meaning of teamwork. We will now try and continue this form in the playoffs as we meet York at 2pm, on Wednesday 4th November at Owings Mills. Please join us in supporting our team!