Women’s soccer took Midwest Conference leader Monmouth College to overtime this weekend, but unfortunately lost after allowing an early goal in the first overtime half.
“We were pretty confident coming into the game. We felt like, with our new formation we could utilize the outside backs more and attack from the outside,” said sophomore Anne Leung.
Monmouth opened up the scoring in the game through Andrea Correa’s goal in the 35th minute. After a pretty tame first half, the Vikings found themselves in a one-goal deficit by halftime.
Lawrence fought their way back and just a few minutes into the second half, senior Anita Babbitt scored the equalizer, assisted by freshman Casey Merkle and junior Caroline Borst. Lawrence kept the undefeated Scots on their toes, forcing the game into overtime. Less than four minutes into overtime play, however, was enough time for Kelsi Smith to capitalize on a chance, keeping Monmouth on top of the Midwest Conference with a 3-0 record.
“We had a slow start and picked it up in the second half. There were a lot of opportunities. We just didn’t capitalize on them,” added Leung. The one chance the Vikings did manage to put in the back of the net was senior Anita Babbitt’s first goal of the season at 2:28 in the second half. “It was the best feeling ever, I was hyperventilating,” mentioned Babbitt enthusiastically about her feat. “I think overall the reason why we played so much better in the second half was because we came together as a team. Then in overtime, fatigue set in and unfortunately they were able to take advantage on one of their chances,” continued Babbitt on the game as a whole.
Lawrence’s next contest will be away on Saturday, Oct. 5, against the Pioneers of Carroll University. Noteworthy players to watch for will be junior Keli Muchowski, currently the team’s leading scorer with five goals and one assist, and freshman Casey Merkle, who has started all seven games thus far and is the Vikings’ second leading scorer with one goal and three assists.