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.
