Women's Soccer Wins First Game of Season
Destinee Boutwell
On Saturday, Oct. 8, the women’s soccer team achieved a 2-1 victory against Rose-Hulman. As the team did a victory march across the field to thank their fans for coming, a voice rang out among the cheers and applause. “We finally wo!!” a player cried. The team and supporters chuckled along with her as everyone celebrated the women’s first victory of the season.
The kickoff was at 1 p.m. and Manchester went out to prove that one should never underestimate an opponent.
Seven minutes into the first half of the game, Courtney Hersick scored the first goal by kicking the ball over the head of the visiting goalkeeper, Carli Weinberg. The lady Spartans held their lead until Rose-Hulman’s Desiree Bell received a pass from Madeline Romeo and shot the ball to the left side of the goal, bringing the score to a tie 1-1. Midway through the second half, Maranda Birmingham rebounded the ball into the goal, once again putting Manchester back into the lead.
Despite Rose-Hulman’s many attempts to obtain another goal, Manchester’s defense could not be divided.
As the announcer began the 10-second countdown, players on Manchester’s bench began jumping and hugging one another enthusiastically. “Everyone was in tears after the game and it was crazy,” said first-year player Savannah Delgado. “It felt like everything we had been working for during the last two months had finally paid off.”
Manchester’s victory was a huge upset in their conference. Rose-Hulman was ranked second in the conference, whereas Manchester was ranked last. Saturday’s game proved that ranking does not always determine who will win the game. “We said that we were going to go out and play hard no matter what, but no one really expected us to beat Rose-Hulman,” Delgado said.
Despite the women’s soccer game and the football game starting at the same time, Delgado observed that their crowd was considerably larger than usual. Many people in attendance were well decorated in Manchester colors. One little girl in a Manchester hoodie stood on the sidelines cheering and shacking her pom-poms when Manchester scored their winning goal.
The family of sophomore soccer player, Cami Holford, was in attendance cheering on both soccer teams. “Neither my husband nor I played soccer growing up,” said Cami’s mother. “My son Chase, who plays for the Manchester men’s team, began expressing interest in soccer when he was five years old. Ever since then we have learned the game and now we love watching Cami and Chase play.”
Cami’s grandmother was also at the game cheering her grandchildren on. She is a Manchester alumna and she was showing off the sweatshirt she had just bought that said, “Never underestimate a woman who graduated from Manchester.” “I have definitely been having fun today; it’s always exciting to come back to see Manchester’s campus and ponder old memories and make new and exciting ones,” said Cami’s grandmother.
The family was very excited by the Spartans success on Saturday and were hopeful that this victory would give the team the morale they need to obtain more wins.