The women’s soccer team finished up the season with three wins, one tie and 13 losses. Despite the disappointing season, the entire team and coaches see the growth that the team has accomplished as a major success. “We bonded well as a team and we’ve grown, and in that sense it was a success. It really is a solid foundation that we plan on building upon next season,” said first-year Meghan Jones.

The season’s lead scorer was sophomore Sam Schongalla with 29 shots, five assists and seven of the team’s 21 goals. The second highest scorer was sophomore Leah Bellow-Handleman with five goals and 12 of the 154 team shots. Senior Ellie Fitzpatrick and first-years Leslie Mills and Jessica Greenberg each had three goals and one assist this season. “Ellie was an awesome forward,” said Jones. “We’ll all really miss her aggressive offense.”

On the defensive end of the line, junior Laurie Stein certainly played a significant role in keeping the score down. Her defensive skills were challenged in every game, and she always rose to the occasion. In goal, first-year Leigh Wilson began her college career as a starter and did not disappoint. She played 1108 of 1530 minutes this season and she had 139 saves, saving 80 percent of the shots on goal.

Senior Alison Palmer entered the season injured, but nevertheless proceeded to play. She played out the entire final game against Wittenberg University. Palmer averaged four saves per game. “Alison was a really supportive team player this year,” said Wilson. “It’s just too bad that she didn’t recover from her injuries in time.”

As they look towards next season, the team must say good-bye to three graduating seniors. Palmer, Fitzpatrick and senior Leah Fredrickson will all be leaving the team next year. The entire team agrees that they will be missed, however Head Coach Andy Nelson plans on recruiting new players for next season who will be able to help fill this gap. On top of the new first-year recruits, the team and the coaches have decided on an intense off-season program that will not only keep the team in shape but will also help them improve.

“The plan is to get better so that next season we will come out with even more force than we had this year,” said Nelson. “This season has helped the team learn how to play well together and from there we plan on developing during the winter and spring and coming back stronger next season.”