Women's soccer ends fairy tale season in heartbreak

Sometimes fairy tale endings end up being just that, fairy tales. Davidson women’s soccer’s remarkable 2007 campaign came to an abrupt end on Friday night when Furman’s Rachel Fry headed in a loose ball from the penalty box in the second overtime of the Southern Conference tournament semifinals.

Davidson had defeated Furman by a score of 1-0 earlier in the conference season, but the Wildcats were unable to get on the scoreboard in this matchup and lost 1-0.

The ’Cats certainly had their chances to put the match away in regulation. Kyri Bye-Nagel ’10 had several excellent opportunities to score but she missed on all counts. The first two came in the second half when her header off a Nancy Haskell ’08 corner kick went wide. Just four minutes later, Bye-Nagel had another excellent opportunity but her shot on goal went high and deflected off the crossbar.

The best and final Davidson opportunity came in the second overtime when Bye-Nagel found herself in a one-on-one situation with the Furman goalie. Bye-Nagel, who was voted All-SoCon first team earlier in the week, struck her shot directly at the Paladin keeper who was able to make the game-saving stop.

The Paladins game-winning goal came as time ticked down in the second overtime and the game seemed to be heading to penalty kicks. Furman kicked a cross into the box with 10 seconds remaining and both teams scrummed for the loose ball in front of the goal. As the ball popped up in the air, Fry was able to connect with her head and send it to the corner of the goal with a mere 2.2 seconds remaining on the clock.

The game was the last contest for seniors Haskell, Bevin English ’08 and Kristen Koehrn ’08. Haskell had been honored with All-SoCon first team honors, while English and Suzanne Sittko ’10 were selected to the second team. The senior trio finish their careers as the all-time winningest class in Davidson women’s soccer history with an overall record of 51-26-6.

English sets record in 2-0 win

Bevin English became the all-time Davidson leader in career shutouts Thursday night when the Wildcats defeated Elon 2-0. Heading into the match, English was tied with current assistant coach Winnie Corrigan and .5 shutouts behind Allison Noznesky.

Davidson's first goal came off a corner kick from Nancy Haskell in the first half. Allison Drutchas had been taking corners in Haskell's stead for the last game and a half, but the move to put Haskell back in her original proved advantageous. The senior tri-captain sent a beautiful ball into the box where Suzanne Sittko sent it caroming off an Elon defender and into the net.

On the night, Davidson put 22 shots while allowing only six. After the Phoenix seemingly got their best shot at tying the game with a direct shot on English, the Wildcat offense was able to respond with a strong attack, some nifty passes and a beautiful finish by Kyri Bye-Nagel to put Davidson up 2-0.

Despite the wet conditions, Davidson was able to control the ball and keep the Phoenix on their heels for most of the game.

It seemed fitting that English would break the shutout record on a night when she was never really tested in the box.

"This record doesn't really belong to me," English said. "The defensive players in front of me deserve a lot of credit. They are the ones who are doing most of the work and they don't get any statistics to show for it."

On this night, Haskell and Chloe King both stepped up with several big defensive stops, while Courtney Hart and Sophie Funderburk helped the Wildcats control the midfield.

English was the already the SoCon's leader in shutouts on the season, and she is now tied with Corrigan for the most shutouts in a single season.

Davidson will now travel to Chattanooga to take on a Moc team that recently fell to Elon 7-1.

Women's soccer takes home crown

Two weeks ago, the Davidson women's soccer team all migrated through Commons to some of the back tables and split into three different groups. I watched with curiosity as they turned away non-soccer friends and had one of the more intense meals I had ever seen.

I learned later that the seemingly arbitrary three groups corresponded, in fact, to the players' positions. The dinner was the brainchild of senior captains Nancy Haskell, Bevin English and Kristen Koerhn.

The Wildcats were coming off two consecutive losses at the hands of Air Force and Colorado College, dropping them to 1-4 through their first five games of the season. With only three more games before the start of the season's conference schedule, the Wildcats knew that they had to right the ship. Fast.

The first step came on Sunday, September 16 when Davidson played Mercer at Alumni Field. The offensive sluggishness that had seemed to plague Davidson throughout the first month of the season reared its ugly head in the first part of that game. The Wildcats only got off two shots in the first 60 minutes of play. When the goals finally came, they came quickly. Kyri Bye-Nagel, Lauren Conner and Amanda Flink all combined to punch home big shots and the 'Cats prevailed 3-1. The three goals combined to more than double Davidson's offensive output over its first five games.

With Davidson clinging to its one-game spurt of offensive efficiency, the 'Cats took the field against SEC foe Vanderbilt on last Friday's opener to the College of Charleston tournament. Any hopes of lingering effects of the Mercer win were seemingly dashed in the first 45 minutes of play.

The Davidson midfield was outhustled on every offensive push and the Wildcat defense was constantly on its heels as the Commodores continued to press their advantage. Although she gave up one first half goal, Bevin English was superb in goal stopping shot after shot. At halftime, it looked as though the 0-1 disadvantage would be insurmountable. Vanderbilt was just too fast, too physical.

I'm not one for putting huge merit into the effects of halftime speeches, but I'm sure that Greg Ashton must have said something pretty inspiring during the break. The Wildcats came out with a fiery vengeance in the second half and Vanderbilt didn't seem to know what hit them. Kyri Bye-Nagel provided the equalizer just five minutes into the second half, as she received a cross from Lauren Conner and put the shot where it couldn't be touched.

The Davidson midfield and defense responded with a new physicality that obviously frustrated the Commodores. Although Vanderbilt was able to get several more excellent shot opportunities, they could not find the touch and the Wildcats took the game into overtime. With the momentum obviously on their side, Davidson kept pressing the attack and was finally awarded with a corner kick for Nancy Haskell. Haskell fired the ball into the crowd where it found the head of Blakely Low who fired home the game-winner.

Sunday morning dawned bright for Davidson as they found themselves in an unusual position, playing for a tournament championship. The first half featured a hell-fire LSU attack (they had scored two goals in the first five minutes in their win over College of Charleston in the first game), but Davidson was able to repulse the Tigers with some well-timed headers from Nancy Haskell and some strategic positioning of the goalposts.

Davidson began to return LSU's ferocity in the midfield game, and right before halftime Courtney Hart was able to find the back of the net to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. As odd as it seemed to the entire LSU contingency in Charleston, Davidson was in control.

For a brief period, though, that control was put in limbo. With under five minutes to play in the first period, goalkeeper Bevin English collided with a Tiger forward in a mad scramble for a loose ball. English received an inadvertent kick to the back of her head and took her time to return to her feet. To the delight of English's hometown fans, she regained her stability and stayed in the game.

Halfway through the second half, after multiple LSU scoring threats were thwarted by the defense of Lauren Conner, Kristen Koerhn navigated her way up the Tiger baseline and sent a cross into the box. The ball found the heel of Conner who sent it ricocheting into the corner of the net. Davidson's lead was two and the SEC favorite was toast. Kyri Bye-Nagel added an insurance goal on a runaway and the shutout 3-0 score held.

For the Wildcats, it was a weekend of rejoicing after the long month of September. For the underclassmen, there was the realization that they could make a real impact on this team and lead it to victory. For the veterans, there was redemption and validation after they had repeatedly assured their mates of better things to come through grit and teamwork. For this Wildcat fan, it was just another opportunity to cheer on the little guy and see the reality of hope through sports. It was a great day to be a Wildcat.