By Ryan Patota, Sports Reporter
After last season’s opening round loss in the MAAC Championship to the Rider Broncs, the women’s soccer team was determined coming into this season. With many from last year’s team returning, Head Coach Ryan Louis is excited to see the growth of his players as this season progresses, complimenting them on their leadership and holding high expectations for this season.
The Golden Griffins continue to be a defense-minded team. “We are very aggressive in how we defend, and we win a lot of balls further up the field to help generate opportunities to score goals,” explained Coach Louis.
The Griffs allowed the least amount of goals against in the MAAC last season, thanks in large part to goaltender Jordan Spencer. Spencer, who returned this season for her senior year, looks to continue her dominance in the net. She has only allowed three goals against the 30 shots faced so far this season.
Spencer made the All-MAAC second team last season, and has posted two shutouts this season as she looks to build off of that success. The senior goalie means a lot to the program, both on and off the field. “She is very relaxed and composed on the soccer field, always brings stability to the back line, and always works hard. She is going to be very difficult to replace come next year,” said Coach Louis.
The approach for this season has been different from the past, as the team did not play any exhibition games, and even took an in-season game off of their schedule this season. Coach Louis explained that he felt his team struggled in the past toward the end of the season and into the playoffs due to fatigue. Before the season started, Coach Louis had a message for the team; he wanted to see change from last year: “We created a lot of opportunities last year. There were a couple of frustrating results we felt we should have won, but didn’t due to not putting the ball in the back of the net.”
In the first game of the season, the Griffs capitalized on their opportunities by scoring five goals on 10 shot attempts, led by a two-goal performance from Senior Madeline Weltin. The lone Canisius loss so far this season was against the UB Bulls soccer team on the road.
The team will now return back home to the Demske Sports Complex for two games starting on Saturday, Sept. 14., hosting the Manhattan Jaspers at noon, followed by a non-conference game against the Le Moyne Dolphins next Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 4 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Tom Wolf
Comentários