Lady Bullets hope to end season on a high note: Women’s soccer looks to qualify for Centennial Conference championships
Photo courtesy of Gettysburg College website. As the season winds down, the Bullets have advanced to the number seven spot in the NSCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Region Poll.
By William LeConey, Contributing Writer
The Gettysburg women’s soccer team is coming to the final stretch of the 2015 regular season. The team is hoping to stand strong in their final games of the season, allowing them to enter the Centennial Conference in good standing.
The Bullets recently have had two straight wins against Dickinson and Bryn Mawr.
Head coach Matt Garrett has been happy with their recent performance.
“We bounced back well from our loss at Swarthmore with a good and needed win at Dickinson in which we played well from the back and kept the ball in midfield without having a real cutting edge in the final third, which has been a common occurrence this season,” said coach Garrett.
In the 1-0 win over Dickinson, senior forward Lauren Schapiro scored the game-winning goal to propel the Bullets to victory.
Schapiro scored again in the 2-0 win against Bryn Mawr, earning her Centennial Conference player of the week honors. Junior forward Hannah Theurer also scored in the game against Bryn Mawr, and senior goalkeeper Eliza Gray recorded shutouts in both games.
Strong defensive play has been a recurring theme for the Bullets this season, as they have limited opponents to 5 goals scored in 13 games.
In addition, they have outshot opponents 96 to 40, outscoring them 15-5.
After the tough loss to the undefeated defending champion Swarthmore, these games agasint Dickinson and Bryn Mawr were very important for the Bullets.
They performed well, and as a result put themselves in a good position for a successful finish in this years season.
The final stretch of the season will be very important for the Bullets, who will be looking to qualify for the Centennial Conference Championship for the sixth consecutive year.
Head Coach Garrett knows the stakes are high. “All our season goals are still possible if we can combine our great ball possession, speed of play, defensive organization, and technical ability in to creating and scoring more goals then we can have a great end of season and postseason,” said coach Garrett.
The Bullets will need to finish in the top five in the Conference to qualify for the championship. If they finish in the top three they will receive a first round bye.
Since all three remaining games are Conference matchups, they will be all-important in determining where Gettysburg will finish.
Thankfully, the Bullets are entering the end of the season as number four in the Centenial Conference standings, already putting them in a position to qualify if they stand strong.
The Bullets will face rivals Muhlenberg, Franklin and Marshall, and Johns Hopkins to finish the season.
Johns Hopkins will be Gettysburg’s strongest opponent as they currently sit ahead of Gettysburg in the Centennial Conference standings.
The last two games of the season will be played on the Bullets home turf on Oct. 27 and Oct. 31 against Franklin & Marshall and Johns Hopkins, respectively.
Be sure to come out and root for the women’s soccer team as they finish out their season!
