VERONICA ECKART
STAFF WRITER
This Saturday at home, the Lady Barons soccer team fell in a hard-fought match against Geneva College with a final score of 2-1.
Despite Geneva’s offense outshooting the Lady Barons 19-8, the Franciscan defense confined them to only two goals throughout the match.
Senior midfielder Emily Wieszczek kicked off the action with a shot on Geneva’s goal that fell just wide in the 14th minute. Her shot was followed a few minutes later by an attempt from senior midfielder Elizabeth Dawyot, which was blocked by Geneva’s goalkeeper.
Only seconds later, Dawyot was the first to score in the 18th minute off of an assist from junior midfielder Katie Killian to score her second goal of the season. This would hold the Lady Barons in the lead for the top half of the match.
Senior goalkeeper Sarah Luebking was also instrumental in this game, finishing with a staggering eight saves against Geneva, compared to only one save by the opposing team. The defense also played strongly and worked hard to shut down the Geneva offense.
“(Junior goalkeeper) Glorianne Trippe got the player of the game because she stepped in hard and played well in the back line today,” said Head Coach Bernardo Gonzalez. “She was really stepping up to the ball and winning it.” Trippe, whose natural position is as a goalkeeper, has been playing the center back spot with junior Emma Cross as needed.
However, in the second half of the game, the Geneva offense was able to slip past the Franciscan defense twice to wrap up the win. They picked up the lead with consecutive goals off of penalty kicks late in the second half.
Despite their best efforts, the Franciscan women’s soccer team was unable to put the ball in the net to even up the score and push past Geneva, and the game closed with a final score of 2-1 in Geneva’s favor.
After the game, Gonzalez said, “We let them dictate the play, and we let them play their game and not play our game. We did well when we connected passes and when we attacked the sidelines, but we did not do that enough today. We just need to finish. We need to finish goals, we need to finish a 90-minute game and know that it is not just one half, or 80 minutes, or 85 minutes even. We need to finish all 90 minutes and play like winners.”
The Lady Barons look forward to their next home game against Medaille College at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22.