Virginia Wesleyan Women’s soccer lost in the final penalty kicks against Randolph Macon in the ODAC championship. The loss came after a scoreless regulation and two overtime periods. The Marlins’ season ended when they failed to get a bid in the NCAA tournament. Women’s soccer finished 13-3-4 in the regular season and 7-2-1 in the conference.
A resilient team was able to exceed expectations even after the season-ending injury to Alex Davidson. One player remarked on how far they were able to go with this group.
“ We played so well this season. Going from 6th place to 3rd place, to competing in the ODAC finals, we really played so well as a team. Of course, we wish that we were still playing and that we made it to the NCAA tournament, however I could not be more proud of how hard we worked as a team this year,” Junior Anna Krussow said.
The Marlins won the first two matchups of ODAC play. They started off the tournament with a win against Shenandoah at home. In the semifinals, they defeated Washington and Lee in a close battle 1-0 with a goal by Marli Hayward. They would go onto lose on the final penalty kick to the Yellow Jackets: “I think overall we played an amazing game. One of the best games we played all year. We just got unlucky on the offensive end,” Senior Tristen Roberts said.
There were five members of the team that were able to win All-Conference for their play in the ODAC. Mia Meinhardt and Shae Geary were nabbed spots on first team All-Conference, Kennedi Anders earned second team honors and Camryn Terry and Sam Crawford collected third team honors. Crawford also received ODAC Rookie of the Year.
The Marlins will look to rebound next season after a really tough loss to the Yellow Jackets. The Marlins will lose eight seniors, but with a strong junior class coming back for their senior year the expectations are at a high “I think next year they are a really strong team that can win ODACs and bring home the trophy,” said Roberts.
Nicholas Mundy
namundy@vwu.edu
