A big win at home!

Although we did not have a good start last night at all, the players recovered from an early goal against and worked very hard to get back into the match. We scored on a set piece and then twice in the run of play to rally from a goal down at home. Our Senior Captain, Lauren Lentine picked a great moment to open her scoring account for 2009 - she's been our most consistent and hardest-working player this year and is a wonderful role model. We are back in the race for our conference regular-season title but sometimes recovering from a big win can be as difficult as recovering from a tough loss. Our consistency and focus will be tested as our upcoming conference opponents are certainly paying close attention and will be making things very difficult for us starting this weekend in Buffalo...

a good start and a good week...

I'm not sure we could have started our game tonight much better- scoring in the first minute is good evidence of how prepared our team was to play with energy and do good things early in the match. Kierstin Stevenson deserves to get on the scoreboard as much as anyone on our team as she punched in the opening goal and has had a terrific start to the season. There's no question we have lots of room to grow and are still not creating a good rhythm possessing the ball at times but this has been a good week. The players have a rare weekend off before another massive conference game early next week at home on Tuesday....

learning how to win games

Tonight's home game with Shepherd was a good test of our patience and persistence over a 90 minute game and also a lesson in managing the game late. Our players were impressive in how they maintained a good level of energy and kept working to keep possession of the ball and create chances in spite of not scoring early. We've also talked a lot about always knowing the time and score and how to behave as a team when we're "up a goal late". Every second counts in a 1-goal game.

playing in a conference

Playing competitive soccer can teach us a lot of lessons and we learned one on Saturday. Every team in our conference is going to be prepared and highly motivated to play FSU. We view that as a measure of respect that we've earned over the years but it also means that if all our players are not fully focused, playing well, and playing with confidence, we're just not going to get results. Several teams in the AMCC are talented and athletic enough to compete with FSU and Behrend has always been one of them. Anytime we aren't prepared to out-play AND out-work our opponents AND believe we will score and win - an outcome like Saturday's is the consequence. Of course, our challenge now is to learn and apply this lesson.

Getting back on the horse

The saying "when you fall of the horse, you get right back on" describes a bit of what our week has been like. A couple good sessions and a strong performance from our players today has helped put last weekends 2nd half behind us. Both our forwards scored again and Lauren Lentine was dominant and creative in midfield. Our back line was solid and is getting better each game and Steph Gwinn and Kristin Prochniak shared the shutout in goal - our 4th in 5 games.
One of our traditional rivals awaits in Erie this weekend....

soccer is a crazy game...

I've probably said this a thousand times but Saturday's game was one of the most stunning things I've experienced as a coach. Allowing 3 goals in any one game has been very rare for our teams historically against even some of the best teams in the nation...allowing 3 in 15 minutes to lose a game late in the 2nd half was just shocking. It's one of those soccer moments that tests the will of a team and we'll find out very soon how we will do on that test. We have terrific players and I have confidence they will respond well this week and that we'll learn a lot from this experience...

Another Home Win....

FSU 7, Marymount 0.
A very good start to the match set the tone and we were off to the races for this mid-week home night game. It's very important that we play with class and with respect for our opponents regardless of the result and we hope all the teams that come play us at FSU can sense that. That our players play hard and play fair. A very athletic and organized Stevenson team awaits this weekend.

St. Mary's Video - 9/5/09

1st-Half Highlights - Videos are still a work in progress!

What it means to play at home....

FSU 3, St. Mary's 0.
A fantastic effort from our team today on a very warm afternoon in Bobcat Stadium. Amanda Wharton scored the first and Christine Fitzgerald added 2 including a terrific individual effort in the 2nd half to seal the win. We worked very hard to defend all over the field and made lots of thoughtful passes to get into good wide spaces and isolate their defenders. We are defining what it means to play at home every time we compete in our stadium and the player's really responded well today. Another shutout and a terrific defensive effort from our back line and keeper Michelle Buckmaster. Time off for Labor Day and we're back at home Wednesday night...

Opening Day 2009

FSU 4, EMU 0.
A good start to the regular season and a good team effort. Our ability to "drive and play" as much as 3 hours is always a concern but we had our nice FSU coach bus and were prepared and had good energy and composure to start the game. EMU defended us a particular way and after some halftime adjustments, we got our forwards the ball in good spaces and created lots of chances. Lauren Russell was in good form and freshmen Amanda Wharton and Liz Seligman opened their scoring accounts at FSU. Our first shutout of 2009 as well....
A very tough test against the defending Capital Conference champ, St. Mary's, for our home opener on Saturday at 3pm.