This weekend the LU women’s soccer team went to the UNCW Courtyard Marriott Wilmington Invitational in Wilmington, N.C. where they recorded their first win of the season on Friday against Elon.
The team was led by freshman Amanda Spencer and her hat trick. Spencer started the game at forward where she scored the first, third and game-winning fourth goal for the Lancers.
Heading into the game, the Lancers (1-4-2) were confident and excited to face the equally talented Phoenix. Head coach Todd Dyer said, “We were excited about another opportunity to go out and win our first game.
Elon’s always been a team we’ve matched up well within the past, it’s always been very back and forth and we were excited going into it.”
The Lancers got a quick lead when Spencer scored her first goal in the 15th minute of the match, stealing the ball from the goalie.
Alana Mackey scored in the 40th minute before Spencer scored her second 56:18 in to make it 3-0. Then, 88 seconds after Spencer’s penultimate goal, Elon scored their first of three straight goals, and made it 3-2 in the 75th minute.
After 22 seconds into the 85th minute, Elon went level, but Spencer took over 36 ticks later, scoring the game-winner, lifting the Blue and White to their long-awaited first triumph.
Dyer called the moment, and the win, a “big lift” to the morale of the team. The Lancers also played UNC Wilmington on Sunday, falling to the Seahawks 4-2 in a fairly close match up. Dyer stated that the Seahawks were probably the best team they have played this year, including N.C. State.
“We played a really good team on their home field,” he proclaimed. The game was tied throughout the whole first half then, two minutes into the second half, the Seahawks scored the first goal of the match. Less than four minutes later, Maddie McCormick doubled the Seahawks’ lead. It remained 2-0 until sophomore forward Olivia Colella scored the Lancers’ first goal in the 81st minute.
However, 32 seconds later, the Seahawks scored their third. Twelve seconds after that, junior forward Samantha Phillips gave the Lancers their second goal to breathe life back into their comeback hopes, but UNC Wilmington iced it in the 86th minute.
Even with the loss, LU still scored three more goals than they have in all their previous games combined after the weekend. Dyer credits this to the hard work the team puts in as well as the whole team keeping a positive mentality.
He added that he believes playing Spencer at forward, along with her hat trick on Friday, took a lot of pressure off her teammates and then it just “snowballed” from there. It also helped that freshman forward Gina D’Orazio was an assisting machine on Sunday, setting up her teammates to score their two goals. Now, the Lancers are looking forward to their upcoming home game against the James Madison Dukes on Sunday.
The Dukes are 5-3 as of now with one game before they play the Lancers – against UNC Greensboro on Friday night. They are currently 3-1 on the road which could be dangerous for the Lancers team that has not won a game at home as of yet.
Dyer spoke about the team’s mind set for the game, “More than anything we’re excited to be back on our home field, after a five game road [trip]. We have a lot of respect for JMU they’re going to be much like UNCW. We’ll have an opportunity to rest a little this week and get ready for JMU, then the Big South schedule that immediately follows.”
The Dukes will bring with them a talented offense to Farmville on Sunday, a unit that scores an average of two goals a game.
Defensively, JMU relies on goalkeeper Ellen Forrest between the sticks, who has allowed 13 goals in 8 games.
