By Peter Gallagher |
The opening weekend of WCC soccer provided a dramatic and contentious preview of the play the Pilots will encounter as they began the most important six-week stretch of their season last weekend with away matches in the Bay Area. The WCC is a notoriously open field in which bitter rivalries develop over the course of a season as teams pursue the single qualifying spot for the NCAA tournament atop the conference standings.
The women’s side began their campaign against University of the Pacific, a new addition to the WCC located in Stockton, Calif. last Saturday at Knoles Field.
“This is (Pacific’s) first year in our conference, so we’ve never played them, don’t really know much about them,” said junior defender Lorielle McCluskie. “It’s exciting to play a team we don’t really know a lot about.”
The Pilots had no trouble conquering the unknown as senior Micaela Capelle, WCC Player of the Month for September, notched her seventh goal in the past five matches and the Pilots downed the Pacific Tigers in a 1-0 victory.
“I guess awards are nice,” Capelle said of her WCC Player of the Month honors. “But I have to keep doing my job, and my job is to score. If you score goals, you get recognized, but I’m just doing my job.”
The women’s side entered their first conference match on the crest of a five-game winning streak, gathering momentum and confidence both at home and on the road. A dominant 3-0 win against the University of Washington in Seattle set the tone for the Pilots as they looked to the beginning of conference play.
“As a team, I think it’s nice that we’re finally starting to score goals and put teams away and we started that with UW,” Capelle said. “I think if we continue that, that’d be nice. If we put teams away in the beginning we won’t have to worry about that one, two to zero lead, because people can always come back from that.”
Though they understand every match will be hard fought, the Pilots have a few matches circled for their significance in the coming weeks.
“Santa Clara’s always a big one because they’re our rival in the conference,” McCluskie said. “That’s always going to be a tough, physical game and they’re having a good season. BYU is another team we like to come and fight against. As the years go on, everyone in the conference is getting better and better, so it’s definitely going to be tough. Every game is going to be a fight.”
The women’s soccer team plays its next match on Oct. 19 against Gonzaga on Merlo Field.
Men’s Soccer
The men’s side opened up conference play last Friday against a strong University of San Francisco squad and managed a 3-2 win, after freshman Eddie Sanchez buried his second goal of the evening in the 83rd minute. Two days later, the Pilots played the Saint Mary’s Gaels, and found themselves on the wrong end of another 3-2 result in an overtime loss.
After a tough 2012 season, the Pilots began their 2013 conference play coming off a solid start, going 4-2-0 prior to last weekend’s matches.
“Everybody’s floating a little bit on their toes, everybody has a little confidence,” junior midfielder Derek Boggs said. “Coming into the conference now, we’ve just got to keep that going, just keep getting the ball to the people who have been scoring goals and keep holding down that back line, we’ll be fine.”
The Bay Area provided a stage just big enough for freshman Eddie Sanchez’s conference debut as he notched three goals over two matches, making him the leading scorer in the WCC with seven goals during pre-conference and conference play. Despite a loss against the rival Gaels, the Pilots remain hopeful given their resplendent play against a fierce opponent.
“Saint Mary’s, you always know you’re going to get bloody war,” Boggs said.
The men’s side will continue their conference campaign this Friday and Sunday with matches against San Diego and Loyola Marymount at home. The home stint will give the Pilots an opportunity to solidify their footing in the second week of conference play. LMU arrives at Merlo Field after their 4-0 thumping of Santa Clara last Sunday. Needless to say, the Pilots look forward to returning to their home turf.
“Any game at home, at Merlo. Every Friday night we can get out there, get the Villa Drum Squad out there,” said Boggs. “You play for those moments.”
