Soccer Field Woes

Moral Victories Count Too

Purchase, NY – Manhattanville’s women’s soccer team entered the afternoon looking for a win to bounce back from their last game. After being completely blown out by Vassar College with a score of 6-0 they needed to redeem themselves. Unfortunately all they could get was a moral victory out of today's game. They fell short against SUNY Old Westbury Panthers by a single goal.

Their defeat began early on when Old Westbury’s Stephanie Maybie shot a goal at the 3:45 minute, while she was assisted by Kassandra Franco. Manhattanville tried to make the comeback but the Old Westbury defense blocked all the shots. Luckily, the Valiants were able to toughen up their own defense and on the field they appeared to have taken control.

It wasn’t until the 19 minute mark that Stephanie Maybie had scored yet another goal from the midfield, assisted by Jordan Schildt, taking the lead 2-0. That would be the end of their offense explosion for the remainder of the game, whereas the Valiants had just started to make some noise on the field. Even though they weren’t scoring many goals they took the shots.

It was in the second half that life was put back into the Valiant’s side. Manhattanville’s Christie DeMarco was able to break up the score and get the team up on the scoreboard with her third goal of the season. At that point the odds of winning seemed attainable but the Panthers defense ultimately made the difference in the end.

While a loss is still a loss, this one gave the team a much needed moral victory. The solidarity of the team maintains strong even with all of the obstacles they have faced. For one, the team is not fully equipped with the necessary number of players. Currently the roster has 15 players on it; ideally a team needs to have at least 25 players.

Not to mention, one of their star players Christie Freer has recently suffered a season-ending injury to make matters worse. This team is certainly considered the underdog and it will be interesting to see how they manage to pull through soccer field woes.