Shepherdstown, W.Va., – The Shepherd women’s soccer team fell short to Southern Virginia University 2-0 on Saturday at the Shepherd soccer facility. For Shepherd it was an exhibition, but for SVU this game was part of their season that was moved to the spring from the fall.
The Rams had 9 girls join the team fall 2020, adding to the 9 veteran members of the team. For Shepherd, this was their first match playing together.
Aly Nazarok, a junior defender for Shepherd said, “We got to the opportunity to learn a lot as this was our first time being able to play 11v11 together.”
Southern Virginia University (3-6), part of the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference are in their competition season, usually in the fall but moved to the spring because of COVID-19.
The Knights had already played eight games before the matchup against Shepherd, giving them quite the advantage in terms of knowing how to work on the field with one another.
Shepherd and SVU were a good match for each other, but the Rams defense let them slip through their line for goal opportunities.
The Rams used their speedy offense as an advantage with many breakaways towards the SVU goal.
Sophomore forward Sara Hohn for Shepherd helped move the ball between the offense and midfield.
The first goal Southern Virginia scored was at the beginning of the first half poking it in just out of reach of Shepherd goalkeeper Lulu Fricks.
Nazarok helped hold the defensive shape by guiding her newer teammates where to hold the line and when to attack the ball.
“This far, we have worked on our shape and the style of play that we are going to play. Now the focus is on better executing the style and shape we want and playing this way as a unit,” said Nazarok
The defensive line worked well with Fricks to clear the ball and move the team forward offensively when in possession of the ball.
The second goal was scored during the second half of the match after several turnovers and a hard drive to goal by SVU. There was a deflection from Shepherd and an outside player for the Knights volleyed the ball into the back of the net reaching the 2-0 score.
“It [the game] showed us where we have improved as a team over the spring and what we still need to work on,” said Nazarok