When I joined The Beacon as a sportswriter during my freshman year, I never could have imagined myself as the Sports Editor in my second and third semesters. I think the women’s soccer team freshmen feel the exact same way with how their ambition pushed them to head one of the college’s most successful athletic teams.
In the women’s soccer season preview The Beacon published in last week’s paper, the headline read “Freshmen to potentially lead women’s soccer this season.” It was extremely hard to include “potentially,” because it’s certainly not needed.
In the women’s soccer opening game, the team scored two goals—both by freshmen. In the Lions’ fourth game against Saint Joseph’s College (Me.), a freshman scored the lone goal. And in the team’s fifth game, two freshmen scored the team’s three goals. After five games, freshmen lead upperclassmen 6-2 in total goals scored.
The team lost its two key attackers—Jess Frost ‘19 and Paige Haley ‘19—last season and head coach David Suvak went into the offseason knowing he had the task of replacing them.
If it wasn’t for Suvak’s recruiting, the Lions’ record of 4-1 might have been reversed.
“We’re trying to keep the same positive attitude that we had last year and a drive to be successful,” Suvak said in a post-game interview with The Beacon on Aug. 30. “We’re trying to have that carry over into this team that is a combination of returning and new players. We’re just trying to keep the ball rolling.”
The team must look towards its talented freshmen to keep the ball rolling this season.
Freshman Cali Bruce, who scored one of the goals in the team’s win against Wentworth Institute of Technology Tuesday night, has Division I talent. She controls the ball with ease and makes skill moves with grace. She’s a standout player and someone to keep an eye on—at Emerson and after.
Obviously the team is incredibly talented all-around, but it would look drastically different if it didn’t have such a standout recruit class. Suvak worked his magic during the offseason.
All we can do now is wait and see if this year’s freshmen can lead the team to a repeat playoff run to the semi-finals and even to a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference championship. No other team in the conference is headed by freshmen, so Emerson would definitely be the standout Cinderella story.
