For the first Atlantic East Conference game of the season, Cabrini women’s soccer faced off against Gwynedd Mercy University on Wednesday, October 4, ending in a frustrating draw.
The interesting plays
The team is currently 3-5-1, and the girls are playing hard to represent Cabrini in the best way as they go through the conference.
The game was filled with frustrations, as GMU’s goalkeeper had Cabrini on their toes to score. Roughly three minutes into the game, shots were made by senior back Amanda Elwell and junior forward Maggie McCay, but were blocked by GMU’s goalkeeper and defense.
Cabrini junior goalkeeper Caroline Hassall saved a shot from GMU’s bottom center close to halftime.
Towards the end of the first half, GMU fouled the Cavs to give Cabrini two more opportunities to score, but were blocked again by the Griffins’ goalie.
In the second half of the game, Cabrini made eight shots, while GMU made five. Additionally, three fouls were made around the 50-minute mark. Both Cabrini and GMU received a yellow card.
The game ended with the last shot by senior back Rebekah Cunningham, which was deflected once again by the Griffins’ goalie to bring the game to a stalemate.
Post-game disappointment
After the game, players were disappointed, but were filled with high hopes for the next game.
Gabby Palladino, sophomore forward, said, “Quite frankly it felt like a loss. I wish I could have converted on my opportunities which could have contributed to the victory.”
Samantha Hurban, junior center back, said, “Obviously, I’m a little frustrated. As a defender, we did our job as defense.”
Caroline Hassall, junior goalkeeper, said, “With five tough consecutive losses, we’ll take a clean sheet. But obviously Gwynedd Mercy is not the toughest team we are going to face, so getting a draw is pretty disappointing.” She continued, “We are making the changes we have to make so I think going forward it will be better.”
The girls were working through Coach Ken Prothero’s tough love.
“We knew we would have been able to beat the team 3-0, he was a bit frustrated just like the other coaches and the players were, but he was also keeping a positive mindset with a mix of tough love for the team,” Hassall said.
Palladino agreed, “We’re a very young team, so it’s been very challenging for the coach to get us altogether. He’s trying very hard to put us in the proper position to succeed. I believe he’s been doing a great job doing that early in the season.”
Moving forward to the next
The girls are learning through the wins, draws, and losses together.
“We know how to work together. We know how to string passes together. This game just shows that we are going to end up doing that and we are a good defensive team, so we got it going forward,” Hurban said.
Palladino agreed. “Working together as a team, it is important for us to stick together when things do not go in our favor. We have to overcome it because we are a family, we have to rely on each other and have trust in each other,” she said.
“We learned that we don’t have many more opportunities to play Cabrini’s women soccer and rep the school so we have to take every single opportunity. Every single minute you are on the field, don’t take it for granted. You just want to play with pride, passion, and heart,” Hassall said.
