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.

Bevin English: One for the Books

by Lauren Biggers, Sports Information Department

As second-seeded Davidson prepares to battle the seventh-seeded Wofford Terriers in the first-round of the 2007 Women’s Soccer Southern Conference tournament at 3 p.m. on Sunday at Alumni Stadium, the ‘Cats will be looking to translate their regular-season success into postseason glory.

Having won 12 of their last 14 games and riding a five-game winning streak, the Wildcats avenged last year’s quarterfinals loss to the Georgia Southern Eagles with a 2-0 triumph, fittingly, on Thursday’s Senior Day.

Fittingly because this year’s three seniors — who double as tri-captains and roommates — defender Nancy Haskell, forward Kristen Koehrn and goalkeeper Bevin English are the winningest class in Wildcat women’s soccer history and enter this weekend’s tournament game with a record of 50-25-6 over their four-year career.

Head coach Greg Ashton enters the tournament with a 50-25-6 overall record of his own and a 31-7-3 league mark in his four-year tenure and leads one of the program’s most successful, if not talented, teams to date.

And while Haskell and Koehrn are unquestionably large pieces of this year’s Wildcat puzzle, it is English who has been putting together one of the best seasons in program history.

Leading the SoCon in goals against average (0.80), save percentage (.849) and shutouts (10), English is having a career year with personal highs in saves, shutouts, goals against, wins and saves in a single game.

With a SoCon-best 10 shutouts this season, English set the all-time Davidson record for shutouts in a career with a 2-0 defeat of Elon on Oct. 25 for her 19th shutout. With 79 saves this season, she has moved into the top-five in career saves with 218, and her current career goals against average of 1.08 ranks first all-time among Wildcat keepers.

A two-time student athlete of the week and an All-SoCon academic team member the past two years for excellence on the field and in the classroom, English has started 50 of her past 51 games, including 16 this season. The ‘Cats’ starting keeper for the past three seasons has amassed a 30-14-5 overall record.

A member of a top-two league finisher in all four of her seasons, success is anything but unfamiliar to English. And while this year’s accomplishments weren’t necessarily unexpected, English admits there were some questions after the team’s 0-3 start.

The team got its first victory, a 1-0 overtime win against High Point, at home on Sept. 2, but dropped another pair of games, on a trip to Colorado Springs, Colo., to Air Force and Colorado College. With a 1-5 record, all wasn’t lost, but Southern Conference play was quickly approaching.

“After going 1-3 in the beginning of the season,” English said. “We all got together as a team, and we also got together in small groups based on our positions to kind of refocus. It wasn’t time to panic, but we had to win games.”

The team that needed to find an identity found one in English’s backyard at the College of Charleston’s tournament. The ‘Cats opened the tournament in dramatic fashion as sophomore Blakely Low’s header lifted the team to a 2-1 overtime win over Vanderbilt for the team’s first win over the Commodores. That same weekend, Davidson registered an even bigger win, downing previously unbeaten LSU, 3-0, to take the tournament title behind English’s second shutout of the season.

“That was fantastic,” English said of winning the tournament title in her hometown. “I got to play in front of some friends and family from around there. Some people I played with in high school came; my high school coach came. Beating two SEC teams, especially after the way we started the season, was huge for us. Things finally started to come together, and we realized we can compete with anyone.”

Entering the SoCon tournament as the second seed, that’s exactly the approach the 2007 Wildcats will carry into the weekend. After two of the biggest wins in program history, the team put together an eight-game unbeaten streak. Its lone conference loss, though, came to regular-season champion UNC Greensboro, a 3-0 setback on Oct. 14 at Alumni Stadium. To win the conference, the ‘Cats will likely have to go through the Spartans, but English chooses to focus on the end goal.

“Our goal since the beginning of preseason when we sat down and planned our team goals has been to win the SoCon championship so we could get in the NCAAs,” English said. “That has always been the big goal and the focus. In the back of our minds, while we are focusing on every single game, that’s our ultimate goal.”

And as good team captains go, one of the best goalkeepers in Davidson history is quick to dismiss her own accomplishments and shift the focus to her team.

“It is nice, but most of the credit goes to the defenders in front of me,” English said. “They do a lot of the work and don’t get any credit for stats. So they are not really my records, even though my name is the one in the book.”

Undoubtedly, Senior Day and a final SoCon tournament bring reflection, but English insists she will be completely focused on the game as she takes the field Sunday. When pressed, she admits it is her teammates that she will reflect most fondly upon as her storied career comes to an end.

“Obviously, the people I played with over the past four years, that’s the best part,” English said.

With English in goal, the second-seeded ‘Cats will take the field against the seventh-seeded Wofford Terriers on Sunday. The program’s fourth Southern Conference championship would be a perfect ending to the story.

Fall sports refuse to yield

I, like so many other Davidson people right now, am absolutely obsessed with the start of men's basketball. With national press proclaiming us to be the prince of the cinderellas, it has been fun to bask in the spotlight that Stephen Curry, Jason Richards and Bob McKillop have drawn to little ol' Davidson.

But even within all of the respect for men's basketball that most other students and student-athletes have on campus, the fall sports teams aren't ready to pack up their bags and go sit in the stands in Belk Arena.

The men's soccer team pulled out a thrilling OT win to beat Wofford last Saturday and are now positioning themselves to pull an upset or two in the SoCon tournament. Despite starting the season at 1-9, the Wildcats could finish as high as fourth in the conference and will likely face off against rival UNC Greensboro in the tournament's quarterfinal round.

The women's soccer team finished the season with four straight straight shutouts and have only allowed more than goal in a game once in the past 15 contests. The Wildcats earned a two seed heading into this weekend's tournament and they will host Wofford at home on Sunday at 3. The Wildcats are doubly confident because Davidson was selected to host the semifinals and finals of this year's conference tournament. With defensive specialist Melanee Smith back to help out Nancy Haskell on the defensive side of the field, Davidson might not give up another goal for the rest of the season.

With some missing links on both sides of the line, this was supposed to be an up and down season for Davidson football. After losing to Dayton on Oct. 13, it looked as though the Wildcats season was over. But after a miraculous victory over Drake, the Wildcats now sit at 5-3 and are on the road to having another winning season. If the Cats can repeat their magic tomorrow against San Diego, they will be in the scenarios for the PFL regular season championship (they would need Dayton to lose both of its final games).

Combine these strong fall teams with the start up of swimming where freshman Lindsey Martin has been destroying the Davidson record books, and it seems that there are still quite a few student-athletes who can wait a little longer before Stephen Curry and the Wildcats take the court.

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.

The anatomy of the streak

There is a point in every sports fan's life that they realize that there are only so many different storylines in sports (well at least every journalist discovers this). You have your redemption story...underdog story...unlikely hero story...life is bigger than sports story (but if sports is life does this mean that life is bigger than itself? I will save that one for another day).

One of my favorite storylines is that of the streak. Winning and losing streaks are some of the coolest intersections of sports and psychoanalysis. When teams get into these grooves of losing or winning, players, fans and coaches all start to cultivate some really weird habits and reactions related to the team's onfield successes or failures.

Right now, two of Davidson's fall teams are involved in incredible streaks. The women's soccer team has won six straight games including two over SEC powers and three over conference rivals. Two of those six wins came in overtime.

On the other side of the hallway, the men's soccer team has now dropped five straight games and are only 1-8 on the season. Out of those eight losses, three of them were decided on golden goals or last second scores.

The men's soccer team came into this season hoping to rebound from last year's disaster where the team suffered a few tough lossesand mailed in the season. After starting 0-3 this season, Davidson thought that they were back on track with the return of senior leader Aaron West in an overtime game against Dayton. While West scored a goal in that lone win, he was also given a red card and had to sit out against Charlotte a few days later. Charlotte demolished the Cats and the losing streak was on.

Precisely when the men's soccer team thought that they were turning the season around by winning at Dayton, the women's soccer team dropped to their third game of the season in a lethargic match in Colorado against Colorado College. After picking up a win against Mercer, Davidson seemed to be falling back into lethargy in the first half of its next game against Vanderbilt. The early season prognosis was not very bright. But then the Wildcats came out in the second half, got a quick goal, eked out a win in OT and a winning streak was born. The women's soccer team has not lost since that early September day in Colorado.

One of the most amazing things about streaks is all of the crazy ways that teams seem to continue them. With the losses piling on, men's soccer coach Matt Spear began to mix up his lineup to find a winning combination. Starting forward Robby Hoak was held back on the bench for a game and then was put in on the defensive side of the field. The team changed their coming out song to the UEFA Champions League theme. If they had the option, I'm sure they would probably try out new jersies. Yet, all of those small things still have not translated to victory.

Last Wednesday, the men's soccer team hosted nationally ranked South Carolina and held the Gamecocks to only three shots over the first 75 minutes of play. The Wildcats had double digit opportunities on goal and were clinging to a one goal lead. With under 15 minutes remaining, the Gamecocks struck off a free kick and tied the game at one. Minutes later, they put home the go-ahead and took a 2-1 victory. The Wildcats had put forth their best effort and it still didn't translate to success.

Back on the women's side, the confidence of the Vanderbilt and LSU victories upped the team's intensity and they went on to pull out a OT win over then-unbeaten conference rival Appalachian State. During that week, the team's coach had gone out to lunch with several athletic department employees at a local eatery. Davidson has since beaten The Citadel and Furman in conference play. The same group has gone back to the same place every week since then...the superstition of the winning streak.

The men's and women's soccer teams still have several more conference games before the end of season tournaments. The men will keep trying to mess with the karma and get themselves back in the W column, while the women don't intend on changing anything for a while.

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.