It's Playoff Time!

We've concluded our regular season with a 14-2-1 record after Senior Jessica Kraemer smashed in a golden goal in overtime at Wesley on Saturday in Dover, Delaware.  After a play between Cassie Donahue and Adria Graham was broken up by a defender, Kraemer stepped into the loose ball and found the upper corner from about 20 yards out for the games decisive moment.
With our 2 wins this week, we have secured the #3 seed in our conference tournament.  We'll host a Quarterfinal game this weekend here at FSU, likely on Sunday at 2pm, but our opponent will not be determined until Wednesday.  Either St. Mary's or Mary Washington will travel to Frostburg to determine who moves on to the CAC semifinal on Wednesday.  The CAC has published a preliminary bracket that is linked here:

2011 CAC Tournament Bracket

Big Conference Win!

Our returning players were very happy to recall our regular season game with York last year as we made our first trip to the York campus in CAC play.   After a terrific header by Abbie Aposporos was clipped in by Adria Graham, York evened the score with a counter-attack goal mid-way through the 2nd half.  Dorie Gedridge came up big in the final minutes however as she sprinted down the right flank and hit a curling shot up and over the head of the YCP keeper for the game winner.
We have now secured ourselves at least one home game in the CAC Tournament and could still finish anywhere from 1st to 4th place with one big conference weekend of games to be played.   After our Saturday game at Wesley, we'll know when we'll host that CAC playoff game. 

The "Business End of the Season"

One of my favorite ways of describing this crucial time of the year.  We travel to York on Wednesday for a huge game at 3:30 that will largely determine our seeding in the CAC Tournament.  On Saturday we'll visit Dover, DE to play Wesley to conclude our regular season schedule.  We'll then know for sure this weekend where and when we'll then begin the Conference tournament the following week.

Senior Day 2011!

This Saturday at 1:00pm in our stadium at FSU, we'll play one of our biggest games of the year against Salisbury with first place in the CAC standings on the line.  We'll also be celebrating the careers of our 8 Senior soccer players pictured above.  The game is a campus "black out" game with prizes for students wearing black at the game and our campus TV Station will be taping and then broadcasting the game on FSU TV3. If you can't make it, live stats are always available here:
http://www.sidearmstats.com/frostburg/wsoc/index.htm

Find a Way to Win!

Perhaps on overplayed cliche' but it turns out to be a theme for our season in 2011.  This time it was an overtime Penalty Kick that made the difference for us as we defeated McDaniel on a beautiful day in Westminster, MD by the narrowist of margins.  Cassie Donahue converted the PK after Steph Fazenbaker was cut down in the box about 7 minutes into the first overtime on Saturday.  It was our 2nd overtime win of the season and puts us on a 7-game unbeaten streak and lifts our overall record to 11-1-1.  Our other game this week was a 4-0 home win over Hood on Wednesday.  3 of those goals are on our YouTube page including a terrific goal finished by Steph Fazenbaker after 7 different FSU players are involved in a passing sequence that puts Dorie Gedridge down the right flank to send a hard serve across the box to be finished with a 1-timer.
This week we travel to Arlington, VA to play Marymount on Wednesday night at 7:30 before our Senior Day game on Saturday against Salisbury at 1pm. 

2 Huge Road Wins!

What is becoming a remarkable season for us continued this week as we won 2 games on the road against 2 very good teams in 2 very different ways.  At Gettysburg, we defended like mad after a slow start and got a great counter attack goal from Adria Graham in the 2nd half that stood up to withering pressure in the final 15 minutes from both the Bullets and the driving rain.  On Saturday at St. Mary's in Southern Maryland, our slow start cost us dearly as we went down 2-0 at the intermission.  In the 2nd half, we took control of the game and got 2 terrific individual efforts from Adria Graham who chipped the onrushing keeper for her 1st goal then passed it by her for goal #2 after tackling the ball away from a St. Mary's defender.  With the game tied 2-2, Cassie Donahue's wait to score this year ended as she lobbed a perfect shot over the keeper for the game winning goal then provided some insurance heading home a Liz Seligman corner.  The 4-goal comeback was one of our finest 2nd half efforts of the year and proved how much our team has matured in a short time this season.

Saves and Near Misses!

We hope a classic 0-0 tie with Stevenson on Saturday here at FSU is not the last time we play the Mustangs before they depart our conference next year.  The game saw chances in front of both goals but good goalkeeping and alert defending kept the game scoreless.  Our YouTube channel to the right has a clip of our best chance to score and a couple saves from our keeper Michelle Buckmaster.  We have allowed only 3 goals in 9 games this season and Buckmaster was named the FSU Athlete of the Week as she earned us 2 shutouts and now has a .34 Goals Against Average on the year. We've had a fantastic defensive record against some very good teams but the big games keep coming this week as we play on the road against a good Gettysburg team before visiting St. Mary's in Southern Maryland on the weekend.

A Great Start to Conference Play

A massive home win on Sunday in our first CAC game against Mary Washington gives us a great start in the conference race.  We had to recover from a tough home loss to a good Carnegie Mellon team on Thursday and the players certainly responded.   Erin Proctor kept a deep corner alive in the box and Chelsea Paskowski headed home the game winner.  Our defense held up in the end for another hard-earned shut out on the year. 

As a result of our week and the 6-1 start to our season, we've moved up in the NSCAA Regional Rankings to #7.  To see all the rankings, click the link below and scroll down to the most recent rankings for Division III.  We are in the South Atlantic Region.

NSCAA Rankings Page

Player and Goal of the Week

FSU sophomore Adria Graham was named both the FSU and Capital Athletic Conference Player of the Week! She scored 4 times last week including both goals in a 2-1 win over Capital on Saturday.  Her first goal on Saturday, scored in the opening minute of the game, is shown on our YouTube Channel on the right of this page.  Check the FrostburgSports.com website on Tuesday afternoon for a YouTube interview with Adria.

The Hard Work Does Pay Off

Scheduling 3 games in 4 days is not something we would typically try to do but when we had an opportunity to host a tournament here at FSU, we took it.  Our players proved this week that their hard work in preseason and on strength and conditioning over the last year has really paid off.  We were able to defeat 2 conference champions from last year and a good Ohio team in Capital to remain undefeated.  We've only allowed 2 goals going 5-0 to start our season and earned a regional ranking in the latest NSCAA Poll.  We've won each of our games in a different way and our key players are in good form.  There is a very good chemistry building in our team but every week presents a new challenge.  A talented Carnegie Mellon side will visit us on Thursday before we begin our conference schedule hosting Mary Washington on Sunday.

Goal of the Week

 

Dorie Gedridge slams home a shot after an FSU corner in our home opener on September 1st, 2011.  Dorie also scored the game winner on Friday in overtime vs E. Mennonite

A Great Opening Weekend

2 very different games but 2 good results to start our season. After a 5-0 win at home with 5 different players scoring on Thursday, we had to go to overtime to defeat E. Mennonite 1-0 on Friday. After dominating the 2nd half, it took a terrific pass in the first overtime from Adria Graham to set Dorie Gedridge free down the right flank to finish a nice breakaway goal. After the Holiday break, we'll play 3 games at home in 4 days starting Wednesday at 7pm.