Warrior soccer struggles on homecoming

Playing at home on the turf of Bolstorff field in their first conference contest of 2012 soccer season, the Waldorf College women’s soccer team wasted no time giving the fans something to cheer about on Homecoming Day.

 Jennifer Kensicki carries the ball down the line (Cody Clark)

Senior Morgan Aupperle’s long cross pass set the Warriors up for a run, and sophomore Airenne Curry netted a goal 48 seconds into the competition as the Warriors took a 1-0 lead. With the lead and the momentum, Waldorf continued to push the pace of the game and played on the Southwestern Christian Eagle’s half of the field for a majority of the first half.

At the 38:08 mark of the first half, however, the Warriors saw their lead slip away as the Eagles and lead goal scorer Miranda White got on the board and drew the game back even in a 1-1 tie. The half ended and by looking at the stats, you would have thought that Waldorf might have had a bigger lead. With five more shot attempts and three more shot attempts on goal to go along with five saves, the Warriors were winning the battle on paper, but the score remained 1-1.

“Airenne came up big with that goal for us in the opening minute and we really pushed the envelope out there, but just could not get any more goals,” said junior Claire Lawson.

The game would remain knotted until the 71:38 mark of the second half, when White scored another solo shot for Southwestern Christian. White’s goal would be the deciding goal, as the Eagles took the 2-1 victory. With the loss, the Warriors moved to 2-7-3 on the season and fell to 0-1 in MCAC action. The next game women’s game will be Oct. 3 at home against the College of St. Mary in another conference game.

In the men’s game later that afternoon, the Warriors also took on the Eagles from Southwestern Christian in their first MCAC action of the year. The now 8-2 Eagles, seemingly the better team on paper, grabbed the advantage early on, as Lewis Edwards notched the opening goal of the game at the 13:26 mark or the first. A little less than four minutes later, Scott Hanson assisted Danny Minniti strike from the right side of the box that knotted the game at 1-1. The Eagles would add 2 more goals to make it 3-1, but the Warriors were not going away. Minniti’s second goal of the contest came on a penalty kick to narrow the game down to a single goal lead at the half.

“We played really hard today. They were probably a better team [on paper], but we really fought hard and had a chance to win,” said Charles Hassel.

The Warriors spectacular defense in the first 30 or so minutes of the second half kept the Eagles at bay, and at the 82:09 mark, Benjamin Blair tied things up at 3 each on a put back goal. The final time wound down, and the two teams headed to overtime knotted up. The first overtime came and went, and the teams were still tied. At 115:05 in the second overtime, Southwestern Christian knocked home the golden goal by Ally Sandercock. With the defeat, the Warriors are now 2-9 on the season and 0-1 in MCAC play. Their next game will be an away conference match up with Central Baptist College on Oct. 6.