Women’s Soccer shuts out Mary Baldwin with offensive explosion

The rain and unfamiliar field did not stop the Christopher Newport University Women’s Soccer team from exhibiting physical play while shutting out the Mary Baldwin Fighting Squirrels in the opening USA South Conference game with a 6-0 victory.

Inclement weather caused the game to be moved to the lacrosse field. The rain was slow and steady throughout the first half of the game, adding to the unfavorable conditions. Despite the unusual situation, the Captains were not intimidated.

“The way we looked at it, the opponents were in the same predicament,” said Coach Ruth Keegan, “they get the same surface and the same weather, so we keep that out of the equation all together.”

The Captains managed to keep their spirits up, and their lead, the entire game. They were led by a dominating performance from junior midfielder Dani Gunderson, who had one goal and two assists, and a lot of shouts and cheers from the sidelines. Gunderson has high hopes for the team this year.

“I mean it’s a Conference, we [have] to win all our games if we want to go 9-0 in our conference,” said Gunderson, “coming out here playing on a different surface, we had to pick up our level and play a lot better than we normally do.”

Mary Baldwin started the game with possession of the ball, which did not last long. The Captains quickly took control of the ball and drove it down the field. Senior midfielder Kendall Deshaw scored the first goal within the first 57 seconds of the game.

Mary Baldwin slipped and slid all over the dampened field in attempt to regain possession, but the team defense exhibited by CNU did not let them anywhere near the ball or the goal, especially in the first half. Junior goalkeeper Megan Gumbs was able to stand back and wait, focused, but watching and cheering her team on from the other side of the field.

Mary Bladwin goalkeeper Erica Gaughan denied four attempted goals before junior midfielder Annemarie Weaver, assisted by Gunderson, was able to score the Captain’s second goal with 29:11 remaining in the first half.

After taking a knee to the face, Gaughan lost focus and allowed the Captain’s to make three more goals nearly back-to-back. Sophmore forward Carly Utterback scored goal number three with 27:15 left on the clock, and Gunderson fired the ball into the net with 25:19 remaining. Sophomore Jackie Bond, fresh off the bench, whizzed the ball past the Fighting Squirrels and, after a block by Guaghan, rebounded her own shot to put the Captains up 5-0 with 24:43 before the end of the first half.

Mary Baldwin visably expressed their frustration, but could not use it as motivation on the field to get past the Captains.

“They come out of nowhere!” shouted Mary Baldwin junior midfielder Samantha Thomas after numerous failed attempts to snatch the ball from Bond.

Bond, who had one goal and one assist, came off the bench during the first half and played hard, not letting anyone near her or the ball.

“We were really focused on keeping possession of the ball,” said Bond. “So I was just focused on being wherever my team needed me to be so that we wouldn’t lose it.”

The Captains were able to keep possession of the ball for nearly the entire first half. The then played the second half with as much passion and motivation as the first. Sophomore goalkeeper Emily Brown took Gumbs spot, also cheering her team on from the untouched goal as her fellow teammates ran the ball all over the field.

Freshman midfielder Priscilla Harrison scored the first and only goal of the second half with 37:51 remaining in the game. The last half-hour was a game of keep-away for the Captains, as they kicked the ball back and forth just to keep the opposing team from getting possession.

The Captain’s left Mary Baldwin’s spirits as dampened as the field as they walked away with zero goal attempts. CNU’s Women’s Soccer team had with their first shut out of the season after a hard earned victory, putting their record at 1-0 in the USA South Conference and 3-5 overall.

The conference game against Shenandoah scheduled for Sunday was postponed due to weather and will be rescheduled. The Captains next take the field against Averett University in Danville, Va. on Friday, Sept. 30 at 4:00 p.m.

Posted by Samantha Bronson on Sep 28 2011. Filed under Soccer, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.