Nothing could have stopped the Wolfpack this past weekend. With a home crowd rooting them on, the soccer team shut out Louisiana College, 6-0.
“It was awesome to win with a home crowd and really feel like we won,” Coach Emmy Therrell said.
The game started off with a quick goal in the opening minutes for Loyola as biology/pre-med freshman Lindsay Diak passed to music/philosophy sophomore Michaela Bono, whose shot bounced off of a defender’s leg and into the goal.
That was only the beginning for Bono, as she perfectly placed a corner kick for criminal justice freshman Amy Budahn to head into the goal later in the first half.
Another corner kick in the first half allowed biology/pre-med freshman set up Loreny Gamboni, who drilled the ball past the Louisiana College goalie.
For the fourth and final goal of the half, Budahn, once again contributing from the defender position, found communications junior Megan Galizia for another header into the goal.
Early in the second half, political science sophomore Catherine Olukotun got into the mix by passing to Bono for her second goal of the match. Minutes later, Olukotun scored the final goal on a breakaway.
The Wolfpack, using outside defenders to bring the ball downfield, continued to apply pressure after the reserves came into the game.
Chemistry/pre-med freshman Sam Shapiro, the left defender, brought the ball down the sideline several times throughout the rest of the half and teamed up with forward Lindsay Diak to keep Louisiana College on the defensive for the rest of the game.
“After a couple of frustrating games where the score didn’t necessarily show our abilities,” Diak said. “It felt really awesome to prove what we are capable of doing.”
More important than winning was the success of the defense, which Therrell had changed to a diamond, keeping Louisiana College from any good scoring opportunites.
“Our team seems to understand and feel much more comfortable in this system,” Therrell said.
With nearly every player on the field getting involved in the win, the Wolfpack seems to finally be putting the pieces together for the rest of the season. Since the team will play the next seven games on the road, the win was a must.
After the game, Therrell said she was extremely happy with the way, “everyone on the team seemed to contribute to the success against Louisiana College. It’s nice to see us bring out the great play we see in our practices out when it counts.”