By Nicole Lantz

In a very tearful, season-ending match, the Haverford Women’s Soccer team lost to Muhlenberg in the first round of Centennial Conference Playoffs. We played our hearts out and left nothing on the field in an effort to move forward and continue our season, but we fell just short. I’m not saying we weren’t good enough. We were clearly the better team, but the referees changed the game tremendously. I know that they say referees can’t win or lose games for you, but in this case, they made the game a lot easier for Muhlenberg and a lot harder for us.

We drew first blood early in the first half, as Erin Dowling ’10 scored her third goal of the season in a play that started with a long ball from Erin Verrier ’12 to Anna Rayne ’12. Muhlenberg answered with a goal from a lofted ball on the right side. Later in the first half, a poor call–one that resulted in two yellow cards for our coaching staff and a fan getting kicked off the premises–handed Muhlenberg a one goal lead that stood through the second half to give Muhlenberg the win.

We fought hard and gave it everything, but luck was not on our side and our season is over. One battle we did win in this game, however, was secured by our fans. We had at least twice as many fans as our opponents–a laudable feat, as we were the visiting team. Thanks to our men’s basketball and soccer teams who came to cheer us on throughout the game and to console us in our loss. They applauded us for five minutes straight after the game, as we came to the realization that our season was finally over. This is our official thank you to all of you that came to support us. You have no idea how much it meant to have you there with us. The comic relief the fans provided was not bad either. The support from the fans encourages what I believe is the most impressive, important part of this Fords team: the knowledge that we are a family.

Coach Jamie Gluck always says, “Our family vs. their team.” This is the most cohesive team I have ever played for and I truly consider myself privileged. As a freshman coming into preseason, I was completely intimidated by the sheer intensity of the relationships between the older members of the team. But through activities like team yoga and trips to Chipotle, I became a member of the family and my bond with this team only grew stronger as the season continued.

Our season was rocky at the start, but when it was time to fight for our spot in the playoffs, we fought–as a team and as a family–and we succeeded. We made the playoffs, which is great, but we want more. We are still hungry.

The bad news is that we are losing four integral members of our team: captain Annie Turner ’09, who always cared more about the team than about herself, captain Lindsay Festa ’09, who is our brick wall in the net, Rachael Pardini ’09, our rock solid link through the midfield, and Lauren Kibbe ’09, who suffered a season-ending ACL tear early in the season and managed to maintain her place as the life of the team. The good news is that our team is very young with six freshmen and eight sophomores and we have depth on the bench. For this team, there is nowhere to go but up.

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