Women's Soccer Suffers Disappointing Loss

A combination of injured players, a slow start, and players having to play out of their normal positions led to a disappointing loss for the Lady Eagles. Faith went into their game with Stephen's College hoping to tie the school record for consecutive wins, and set a new record for wins in a season. Instead, the Lady Eagles fell to winless Stephen's College 3-4 after battling all the way back to tie the score late in the second half. Faith falls to 5-6-0 on the year with the loss. 

The Lady Eagles were without starting sweeper Abigail Vertican and midfielder Grace Kudlo. As a result, the Lady Eagles had to adjust their lineup and the inexperience at their new positions showed very early in the game, as Stephen's took the opening kick off down the field and scored for a quick 1-0 lead. Faith was able to regroup for the next 20 minutes and mount some of their own attacks. Unfortunately, several of the Lady Eagle's shots were taken directly at the Stephen's College keeper, making it fairly easy for her to make the necessary saves. Twenty minutes into the game, Stephen's mounted back to back counter attacks which resulted in two more goals, increasing their lead to 3-0. Faith regained their composure for the rest of the half, actually outshooting Stephen's 11-8, but with their second leading goal scorer (Kirsten Passwaters) relegated to the sweeper position, and their third leading goal scorer (Kudlo) on the bench with an injury, the Lady Eagles struggled to test the Stephen's keeper. Krista Peters was finally able to break the scoreless first half for the Eagles, when her shot ricocheted of a Stephen's defender and into the net. Faith trailed 1-3 at the break.

Coming out of the half, the Lady Eagles moved Passwaters up to the midfield position, and the effect was immediate. One minute in, with Passwaters and Peters able to better control the midfield, Peters scored her second goal of the game to pull Faith within one. The Lady Eagles continued to mount pressure on the Stephen's defense, but struggled to put the ball anywhere but directly at the opposing keeper. Faith's Tayler Marinez kept Faith in the game with some nice saves of her own, and finally, in the 75th minute, Passwaters put the ball into the back of the net to tie the game up at three apiece. Unfortunately, in the next minute, with the pressure seemingly off, the Lady Eagles defense broke down and Stephen's scored what was the game winner, defeating Faith 4-3.

Faith outshot Stephen's 20-13, with 16 of those shots on goal, but unfortunately, most of them directly at the keeper. Faith will get back in action for their final two regular season games on Friday/Saturday, November 1/2, when they will host NAIA Presentation College.