By: Luke Garcia
This weekend, the field hockey and women’s soccer teams will face off against the Richmond Spiders. Both games will be played at home.
Up first, field hockey will play Saturday at 1 p.m. The team opened their season with a win against Old Dominion last month, with a score of 3-2. The three goals were by seniors, Emily Van Hijfte and Maite Strum, and freshman, Ashlyn Hughes.
Last season, 2019, their record took a bit of a dip recording an 8-9 record from the 2018 season where they were 12-7. We’ll see if the team can improve their record to get back to a winning percentage.
Players I would recommend to look out for this weekend will be Maite Strum, Janne Wetzel, and Ashlyn Hughes. Strum led the team in goals last season with 7 goals, Wetzel led the team in shot attempts last season totaling 52, and Hughes wasted no time grabbing her first collegiate goal against ODU earlier last month. We’ll have to see what else she’s got as the season progresses.
Soccer is next, as they will play the Spiders Sunday at 2 p.m. The Rams will be looking for a win to bounce back from a hard battle against UVA (No. 8) as that was no easy game ending in a 2-1 loss. The team, however, came out blazing in the first three games of the season beating Liberty, ODU, and East Carolina University with redshirt-Junior Samantha Jerabek already grabbing a hat-trick in their win over ODU.
So far, the team has outscored their opponents 12-6 in the season with goalkeeper Brecht Haakma, only allowing 6 goals, with 24 saves. Jerabek leads the team in shot attempts this season with 22 and scoring 6 goals. Aileen Guthrie is second in shot attempts with 8 and Anna Bagley is second in goals scored with 2.
Players to watch for are Jerabek, Guthrie, and Haakma. Jerabek and Guthrie have been aggressive on the offensive end, constantly pressuring the opponent’s defenses. Haakma only allowed one goal in the first three games of the season before struggling later, allowing 4 goals in the last two games. We’ll see if she can bounce back Sunday against Richmond.
