Rowan’s women’s soccer team had another tough loss this weekend when nationally ranked John Hopkins came into town on Saturday.
The game was a 2-0 shutout in favor of John Hopkins, with forward Maddy Rocks and midfielder Emily Maheras scoring the only two goals of the game in the second half.
Bringing the Profs record to 3-2, the two back-to-back losses gave the head coach, Scott Leacott, a chance to evaluate one of the team’s weaknesses on the field.
“It is kind of what we thought along, we’re playing a little bit too much defensive, we have to get into the attack more, we have to throw more numbers into the attack, and they know that,” Leacott said. “I think we could’ve been a little more successful but it’s a learning experience for us and that is why we scheduled these types of games. Those types of teams will expose your weaknesses and we found out our weaknesses real fast, and it’s time for us to correct them.”
Senior captain Casey Lubonski also pointed out similar areas that needed improvement when asked about the positives and negatives she took from these games.
“I think the defense has been really good, and I think our offense is really good. I just think when we play harder teams, we tend to focus more on the defense,” Lubonski said. “I think going forward, we need to focus on both sides on the field instead of just making sure they can’t score, but having our own goals scored too.”
These losses haven’t had too big of an impact on the team’s mentality though, this is especially true considering they know they have another big game against Arcadia University coming up.
“I think we are just looking for a win at this point,” Lubonski said. “We are really excited to play Arcadia because they are a really good team and it is going to be a good atmosphere for us to come out really strong because we do have two losses right now. So, it’s going to be can we come out with a lot of intensity and put it back in the net early and hold them off.”
Leacott isn’t worried about the team’s mentality either because he knows this is only the beginning of a long season.
“I mean it’s always a pretty upbeat group and obviously after you lose a game it’s not the greatest feeling in the world,” Leacott said. “But you know the old cliché saying it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon, so we still have a ton of season left to right the ship.”
And while Leacott knows the importance of only focusing on one game at a time, he also realizes the importance of the conference play that starts this Saturday against William Paterson.
“We have a saying in our program ‘let’s go 1-0,’ so next game we want to win,” Leacott said. “So obviously the next game is Arcadia and it is a non-conference game but we want to go 1-0 in that game. And then the start of the conference season, the conference games are extremely important. You are trying to get home field advantage in the tournament which is a major thing and it starts with Paterson.”
With the team being ready to get back into the win column, the game on Wednesday at Arcadia University proves to be a big one where the Profs want to go 1-0.
UPDATE: The Profs fell 1-0 to Arcadia Wednesday night.
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