Photo by: Chris Schaller
After the season was cut short in 2020, 2021 will truly be the last opportunity that the coveted Cabrini women’s soccer senior class, can earn an Atlantic East championship.
In 2019 the women’s soccer team finished 15-4-2 , won the AEC championship, but ultimately lost in the ECAC Division 3 tournament. The success that the Cavaliers experienced that year was not only from senior players but also from the sophomores and juniors.
Fast-Forward to 2021, a majority of that younger core: Maddy Rooney, Kait Cloud, Brianna Blair, Ashley Tutzauer, Ally Wojton, Maria Hagan, Amanda O’Neill and Riley Underwood are now seniors and/or redshirt seniors. They will be looking to put it together for one last dance this season. “The best way to go out would be with another conference championship and a NCAA tournament experience.” Brianna Blair, wing, graduate student, said. Currently the Cavs are 3-4-1, with 8 goals forced and 9 goals allowed. While they have gotten off to a tumultuous start, there are still 8 games left. In their last 5 matches, the Cavaliers started off with two dominant victories against Arcadia University, 2-1 and Rosemont College 1-0, but fell to Widener University 0-1 and Lebanon Valley College 0-1. However, they took apart Lancaster Bible College 3-0, in their most recent match.
Photo by Chris Schaller
Senior players have put in their time, playing meaningful minutes since their freshman year in 2018. With the senior class combining for over 360 career appearances (Caps). “You can put a dream team together but they won’t be successful at the end of the day if they can’t play with each other,” Ally Wojton, back, senior, said. They have built a great chemistry on and off the pitch. It will be a massive change next season once this senior class is gone and there will be a new era of Cabrini Women’s Soccer.
The seniors have produced results as a team and individually. Ashley Tutzauer has the second highest goals against average percentage, 4th most career shutouts and is 3rd in all time wins for a goalkeeper, at Cabrini. They helped put together the most wins (16) and the most shutouts in a single season (13) In school history back in 2019.
Cabrini has 3 graduate students: Blair, Tutzauer and Hagan who were granted an extra year by the NCAA due to the shortened 3 game 2020 season. The current seniors: Rooney, Cloud, Wojton, O’Neill and Underwood are also eligible for an extra season due that same rule. Veteran leadership is key to a team’s success in any sport. Despite getting off to a slow start this team is too talented to not contend for a conference championship and a NCAA tournament appearance. Putting their excellent chemistry aside, this is the first time that they have had a full season since 2019, so naturally their style of play is going to be rusty.
It’s tough when a team that is built on upperclasswomen, most specifically seniors and graduate students, to move forward once they are done. The current senior class has been playing together since 2017-2018 and 2018-19, and have had large roles on the team for a majority of their time here. The underclasswomen will have big shoes to fill for what has truly been one of the best stretches by any sports team in Cabrini history. “We want to know that we overcame all the things that have been thrown at us this past year and a half,” Blair, said.
