<rleton has been represented well by its women’s soccer team this past week. On Saturday they came out on fire against cross-town rival, St. Olaf. After being kept out of the play-offs last year by Olaf, the Knights were determined to make this year different. The first half was one of their most intense, focused starts of a game all season and their determined energy paid off. In the seventh minute, Sophie Wood ’09 got on the end of a beautiful corner kick by Lily VanderStaay ’12, heading it past Olaf’s goalie with precision and poise.
The Knights refused to let up after their first goal and put continual pressure on Olaf’s defense and keeper. Nicole Tomita ’12, though, was able to break through their defense in what is becoming her characteristic way of scoring unassisted goals. The Knights went into halftime with a 2-0 lead, but it was Olaf’s last game of the season as well as their Senior Day and they weren’t giving up yet. In the seventy-seventh minute, Olaf was able to score off of a free kick set play. The Knights responded quickly, however, with Miz Zutz ’10 scoring in the eighty-first minute off of a through ball by Melley Turner ’09. In order to keep things exciting, Olaf was allowed to score again in the last three minutes of the game. Carleton kept its composure, though, and pulled off a 3-2 victory.
This past Wednesday, the Knights played in the MIAC semifinal playoff game against Macalester. The weather ended up being a big factor in this game, with wind gusts of up to thirty miles per hour. Carleton played against the wind in the first half and was required to bunker down and play solid defense in order to go into halftime tied at 0-0. Defender Emma Dobbins ’10 was kept especially busy on the right side of the field and made several key stops to the Macalester attack.
Maybe it was President Oden’s pep talk before the game or perhaps it was having the wind at their backs, but something eventually clicked for the Knights. Eight minutes into the second half, Zutz bended a left-footed shot from twenty-five yards out into the upper right side of the net. Lifted up by such an amazing goal, the Knights took complete control of the game, scoring again eleven minutes later. The second goal was created by a long ball from Nicky Bloom ’09 to Cassie Burke ’12, which she was able to put away despite the close proximity of two Macalester defenders. The Knights then went on to teach everyone watching a lesson about how to cut the knees out from under your opponents, with VanderStaay putting yet another goal away just one minute later. While Macalester became increasingly physical as the game went on, there was no way they were coming back from such a deficit and the game ended 3-0.
The real excitement for the Knights came about five minutes after the game was over, though, when they found out that Concordia College had pulled off an upset and beat St. Thomas. This means that the women’s soccer team will get to play at home this Saturday in the MIAC championship game at 11:30 AM. This will be the last time that the Knights get to play on beautiful Bell Field this year so take a break from your studies, put on your maize and blue, and come out and support your fellow Knights!