By Ashlea Hellmann
The women’s soccer team has been striving to make a name for themselves as a top program on University of Louisville’s campus.
Unknown to many Cardinal fans, the women’s soccer team has already accomplished many feats. Last season they made the trip to the National Colligate Athletic Association Tournament, their first in school history. They plan on making another trip this season.
As the team heads into the Big East Tournament they will attempt to keep up the intense play they have shown this whole season as they take on top ranked teams, like Notre Dame, Connecticut and West Virginia. Their primary goal: Make it to the Final Four, a feat which gives them the opportunity for a better seed in the NCAA.
The team will continue to look to two players to keep them steady during the tournament, senior keeper Joanna Haig and senior midfielder Monique Gjini. Their teammates will rely on Gjini to “stabilize the midfield,” and Haig to be “the anchor,” according to junior forward Shannon Smyth.
While they don’t expect to make many changes in the post-season, one change they will make is more power on the field as they are beginning to experience the effects of the return of a few players who have suffered various injuries over the course of the season.
For the most part the team has been sticking to their guns when it comes to practices. “We’ve done a good job preparing for opponents. We train weekly for each opponent,” said Haig. This training for different opponents has led the team to become a very flexible team according to Smyth.
Another change the team will try to make will be if they rematch University of Notre Dame, last year’s runner-up in the NCAA tournament. “They are players like we are. They are respect worthy, but we gave them too much respect. We watched them play for the first 45 minutes before we decided to play the second 45 minutes,” said head coach Karen Ferguson.
The players feel as though coming in as an underdog is not a bad thing though. “To us it is ‘why not?’ The pressure is on them. We are coming out to be the spoiler and we just have to believe even if no one else does,” said Haig.
The team says they hope to clinch a two seed in the Big East tournament, a two seed will give them a big advantage, playing on their home field. If the team gets the chance to play at home, the girls’ are crossing their fingers for a large fan turn out. “It’s like having an extra person on the field,” said Smyth.
Haig agreed, “Having the fans behind the opponent’s net being loud and rowdy takes away any pain we might be feeling,” she said. This team is no stranger to the pains of the game though. They have had to persevere through five overtime games, in which they tied or won all of.
“It has taught us to just keep pushing and do things, like go for every tackle,” said Smyth. The team hopes they can carry that experience into the Big East Tournament.
Despite the fact that winning the Big East tournament would seem incentive enough, the girls have another motivation behind working hard, a promise from Coach Ferguson. If the team wins the Big East Tournament, they will have a tasty reward waiting for them. “We get ice cream,” said Haig with a smile on her face.
