Baltimore Child Abuse Center

Our 2011 season was dedicated to the BCAC (Balimore Child Abuse Center). The girls wore blue shoelaces and wrote BCAC on their wrists each game to remind them who they were playing for. Now that the season is finished, the grand total of money the girls earned for this wonderful cause is $3,048. It is estimated that 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 7 boys will be sexually abused in their lifetime making this an extremley important cause that the girls wanted to pursue. Along with raising this money, every week the players took turns going to the center to play with children, clean the center, organize paperwork or whatever the center needed that particular day. Jennifer Noparstak, MSW, Director of Development for the BCAC said "We are so appreciative of the Stevenson University women's soccer team's help throughout their 2011 season, in addition to assisting BCAC in raising awareness and funds, the players are volunteering their time weekly, spending a few hours with children at the Center and providing them a sense of security and caring." I am so very proud of my girls. Senior and Junior Captains Stephanie Eyler and Taylor Zimmerman came up with this idea completely on their own, organized everything and truly did our community a service.

Road to ECAC's

With our strength of schedule and winning record we were certain our season was not over. We took the weekend off to mourn our loss and then got immediately back into the swing of soccer having a couple fun, hard working practices. Turns out we were ONE TEAM AWAY from getting a bid to NCAA's however since we did not get in to the NCAA's we were asked to compete in the ECAC's. We were the second seed in this tournament meaning Neumann traveled to us. The girls took care of business scoring 7 goals (frustration from not scoring enough against St. Mary's I'm sure)! Then we traveled to Frostburg where we won an intense battle against a future MAC rival Albright. It was an extremely physical game that we ended up winning 1 -0. We stayed overnight in a hotel where the girls had way to much fun competing in Graeme's "Pub Quiz" (which he stayed up until 2 am creating the world's hardest trivia questions). Dinner was delicious and everyone was in excellent spirits as they sang their way onto the field Sunday for the Championship game. Story of our lives however, we dominate, out shoot, and lose. We outshot Frostburg 21 - 14 and had 5 corner kicks to 0. We hit the cross bar THREE TIMES and just could not catch a break. They scored a beauty in the first half, and if you can't finish you can't win so we ended our season with a 1-0 loss. Again, we were extremely proud of ourselves and we walked away knowing if we get better at finishing our opportunities we are UNSTOPPABLE.

CAC Let Down.

Unfortunately we lost a tough CAC semi-final game against St. Marys. Both teams fought hard and St. Mary's was able to capitalize to take the win. They are exceptionally well in transition and we broke down defensively twice letting them score 2 goals. They scored first early into the game and Jamie Matlock scored before the half taking us into the locker room tied at 1-1. We had 27 shots on goal and only score once, almost unbelievable. They had 7 shots on goal and finished 2. Heartbreaking as it is, that is the game of soccer that we love so much. St. Mary's went to Salisbury and lost in OT. Making Salisbury the CAC Champs. Much to our disappointment, we let our repeat championship slip away. However, all in all the girls did have an excellent and extremely fun season and I am very proud of their work both on and off the field.

Perfect Ending to Regular Season Games

The early loss to York and Tie with Frostburg didn't have us sitting to comfortably in our CAC bracket. However, complete focus and determination is the only way to describe the way we have finished our regular season play. Salisbury came here without a conference loss and we did what we had to do. It was a battle from start to finish. We dominated in the first half, Stephanie Eyeler did what she does best and finished a beautiful volley from Mandy Marston giving us the 1-0 edge. The rest of the game we all were on the edge of our seats. Salisbury was in a little better shape then us as they have lots of speed. They had a couple close chances in the second half, but our defense stood strong leading us to victory.

Traveling to Mary Wash was fun. The girls rented movies from Blue-Box which made the trip fly by. They also continued to play as if they knew they should win. 2-0 was the result. We needed Salisbury to lose or tie to give us the regular season Champions award, and it looked like it was going to happen. We followed stats on the bus ride home as Salisbury and St. Mary's entered OT. Salisbury pulled it out in the end, finishing in first with us a close second. Now we both have 1st round byes for the playoffs and will hopefully meet again in the Championship!

GOALS GOALS GOALS

We have scored 12 goals in our last 2 games! I can't believe how well we are playing. The Marymount parents were telling us that we were the best team they have played all year. We were truly on our game. The passing was phenominal, finishing superb, and communication excellent. We beat Wesley 5-1 on a gross rainy day in Delaware and Marymount 7-1 here under the lights on our new turff. I really think we are peaking at just the right time. Against Marymout we scored 5 goals in under 8 minutes, talk about a great run. Five different players scored. These were two very big wins for us as they have the girls confidence soaring. Next week we will have two extremely challenging games against Undefeated in-conference Salisbury and Mary-Wash. We can not afford to tie or lose either game if we want to have a first round bid in the playoffs.

Conference Wins!

Since defeating Muhlenburg the girls have decided they love to score. A non conference game against McDaniel set the tone as we stormed through winning 4-0. Then came Hood College, another 4-0 win. As we traveled to St. Mary's for the second conference game of the week the girls were focused. They knew how important it was for us to win this game. That early loss to York really woke us up and made us realize we could not lose this game. The girls got the job done burying their opportunities on goal. We won 3-0 in a game that was pretty hard fought. I was so proud and impressed with their shooting. All week we focused on 1 v 1s and 3 v 3s to big goals and I guess we fell in love with the back of the net!

Steph Setting Records!

Our very own Stephanie Eyler broke the Capital Athletic Conference's career goals-scored record when she scored her third goal against Hood college. Her first 2 years here at Stevenson she scored 43 goals. Last summer she broke her foot and had an extremely frustrating junior season. Even though frustrating for her still meant scoring 6 goals and winning the CAC Championship. The record was previously held by Sara Weaver with 54 career goals. And now with at least 8 games remaining in her career Steph has already beaten this number. Let's see how many she can get!

Back in the Regional Rankings- #8

Samantha Novy started us off beautifully scoring off Meaghan Williams Corner Kick just 3 minutes into the game. Jamie Matlock also gave us some room to breathe scoring a left footed rocket off a beautiful ball from her roommate Mandy Marston. They had 2 1 v1's vs our keeper Britt Ross who made both point blank saves keeping us in the lead. They were able to score right before halftime off a beautiful free kick right outside the box that none of us thought was a foul. Second half we both held scoreless and the win shot us back into the Regional rankings where we now sit at #8. Senior Keeper Brittany Ross was rewarded for her excellent saves being honored CAC Player of the week for her 5th time in her career.

Huge Conference Game

Last season we played Frostburg in the CAC Championship so we knew this was going to be a battle. They wanted revenge and we were still upset about our first conference loss to York. We took the 3 hour bus ride up to Frostburg and had everyone in a great mood as we watched "Bridesmaids" for the trip. The movie was hilarious! Both teams came out well, Britt Ross our keeper made some excellent saves as did their goalie. The day ended in a 0-0 tie after double overtime and 120 minutes of play. We outshot them 23-12 and were very unlucky hitting the cross bar twice, having two shots skim just over the goal and then with 30 seconds left in the last over time we got a corner kick. Catherine Madden connects a volley that beats the keeper and we were all sure it was a goal. But one of their defenders was in the perfect position and was able to clear the ball out before it crossed the line. A win would have been sweet but the tie was fine as we knew how well we had played.

50th win for Graeme and GOALS!

We were able to find the back of the net today, and then the goals started flowing. We scored 5 goals against a strong Catholic team. They got one on us and had a couple strong chances, today however, we decided to finish our opportunities. Freshman Meghan Williams got her first collegiate goal and Steph Eyeler was able to finish 2 beauties. Mackenzie Calhoun got her first goal of the season and spirits were high.

The Win marked the 50th win for Mills (AKA Graeme Millar) and he didn't even tell us! We found out later from the website. So modest but we are all thrilled for him!

Hopkins and York Took Advantage!

Soccer is a game of possession, but the winner MUST score. You may not have many chances on goal so when you do you must capitolize. We did not do that this week and our opponets did. The hopkins score doesn't reflect the game at all. It is a result of 5 minutes of breakdown defensively and of not finishing our chances offensively. With 4 minutes remaining in the first half it was 0-0 and we each had about the same amount of shots on goal. One breakdown led to them scoring a cheap goal and then while we were still frustrated they came right back and scored another. We hit the cross bar twice, had 3 1 vs with the goalie and a free kick that was everything but finished. But that is the name of the game....finishing. The best thing that came from this game was that yes we were frustrated with the loss but we walked away knowing we shouldn't have lost. And that we can compete with a nationally ranked team. We hope to see them again in NCAA's and seek revenge!

Speaking of revenge York came to our new stadium on a mission. They had yet to win a game this season and came out with a very impressive energy and fire. They scored early on and at half time we told our girls that they just weren't playing hard enough to win this game. Yes we are the better team, but they want it more. Second half we came out just as intense and it made for a great game, but once again we couldn't quite finish. The conference loss was very upsetting but it is something we will remember and take with us into future games.

#6 In the Region!

Our hardwork hasn't gone unnoticed! Today we were rewarded with a #6 ranking in the regional pole. This was one of our team goals for the season! Tomorrow we have a really challenging task ahead of us playing Nationally ranked Johns Hopkins at their place. But I know how good my girls are when they come to play and I believe tomorrow they will prove this. Details to come!

An Awesome Weekend!

After our day off we regrouped, recovered, and came back better than ever. The rain ended up giving us two days off and we were at it with vengeance beating Eastern 1-0 with another goal by Jamie Matlock in the 87th minute! This was truly what we needed because the girls again were playing so well but could not quite finish all game. Sunday Stockton came out hard and fast. They were more physical then we were used to with quite a few rough challenges and at half time we were losing 1-0. The girls were energized in the locker room and determined. They knew they were the better team and came together to score 3 awesome goals in the second half. A freshman Brandy scored off a beautiful corner kick from another freshman Meaghan. Then a frustrated Stephanie Eyler was able to break into some space and rocket a gorgeous goal into the top corner. Our keeper Britt Ross made an unbelievable breakaway save keeping us in the lead. And finally Mandy was able to seal the deal being in the perfect position to finish a rebound from Brandy. The bench was going crazy and we all were ecstatic with everyone’s performance. It was truly a great weekend.

Rough Weekend

We took a practice to just work on shooting. We played a lot of fun games and just let the girls have some fun. The next 2 days we didn't have any down time as we had 2 great games vs Elizabethtown and TCNJ. E-Town was a battle. They were strong and had a lot of opportunities as did we. However, in the second half Sophomore Fwd. Jamie Matlock broke through 3 defenders and hit a bullet at the top corner putting us ahead. We ended up winning 1-0 and spirits were high. Rise and shine, that next morning we were right back on the bus to play the talented nationally ranked TCNJ. Perhaps playing them as our 3rd game in 4 days was not the wisest. The first half was pretty good, they scored an unlucky (for us) goal about 5 minutes in but we fought back hard and managed to keep the score 1-0 at half time. I was sure we would come out and tie the game but only a few minutes into the second half they scored again on a corner kick. My girls were completely exhausted and this crushed their spirits. They continued to play their butts off but they had absolutely no energy or fight left in them, it had been a brutal week. We all decided to leave this game on the field. As a team we refused to let the frustration and exhaustion get to us. And decided to take today off to get a break.

A Fresh Start!

We had an awesome but strenuous preseason. Camp was really fun and we ended with a game night that had the girls and coaches laughing for days. We then jumped right into games with a play day in Gettysburg and our first regular season game against Cabrini on 9/01. The girls came out great and were clearly the better team but we just could not finish. We out shot them with 23 shots on goal to their 2 but still ended up tying 0-0 after 2 overtimes. Frustrating! This is the same problem that we had early in the year last season, FINISHING!