The women’s soccer team lost 3-1 to Springfield College in the semifinals of the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference playoffs Thursday.
Head coach David Suvak said the team did not play to their full potential.
“We competed against a very good Springfield team, and we were just not as good tonight,” Suvak said.
The Lions finished their season 11-7-1 overall and 7-3-1 in conference play—the most successful season in the team’s history since joining the NEWMAC.
Springfield took a 1-0 lead in the second minute of the game with a defense-splitting pass from Sarah Swetland to Amanda Wright, who shot the ball to the far left post. This was Swetland’s 12th assist and Wright’s tenth goal for Springfield this season.
Despite the Pride scoring early, the Lions prevented another goal in the first half.
Suvak said he told the team to focus on them and on their own game after the early goal.
“I wanted them to play out of it and to start getting our game going, which really didn’t happen all game,” Suvak said. “We were not connecting passes the way we’ve done it in the past.”
Springfield scored two more goals in the second half. In the 59th minute, Swetland scored an unassisted goal off a rebound from Emerson freshman goalkeeper Megan Rose. Forward Kaleigh Dale scored Springfield’s final goal after a scramble in the box following a corner kick.
Senior Jess Frost scored a late unassisted goal—her eighth of the season—in the 89th minute to make the final score 3-1. Rose played the entire 90 minutes for the Lions in their last game of the season. She totaled nine saves out of the total 12 shots.
Suvak said Rose played an instrumental part in the Lions’ defensive game, despite letting three goals in.
“I think she played a big part in why we didn’t lose this game by a bigger margin,” Suvak said. “I thought [Rose] played great today.”
Seven seniors played their final game in the match against Springfield, and Suvak said they accomplished a great deal in their time playing for Emerson.
“We have seven seniors that, when they came into this school, helped us win an [Eastern College Athletic Conference] championship and they are leaving here making some history making it to the NEWMAC semifinals,” Suvak said.
