By Nicholas Slepnikoff
Kicking off their post-season, the women's soccer team hosted the NCAA Women's Soccer 1st Round Playoffs last weekend, as Denver and old rival Washington traveled to the Merlo Field.
Winning both games, the Pilot women continued to show the same poise and control of the ball. Despite losing senior Michelle Enyeart to injury, the Pilots have continued to fight for the championship title in their now 20-1 season.
While rain sprinkled on Merlo Field during last week's chilly Friday night, the Pilots defeated Denver 4-0. The game opened with an eruption of screams from the stands as the Pilots took to the field.
Pushing past some early defense, the Pilots took an early lead with a goal at 24 minutes and 30 seconds from junior forward Sophie Schmidt.
Schmidt, who was assisted by sophomore forward Danielle Foxhoven, scored the ball off a corner, pushing past the Denver goalie and giving the Pilots an early point. Schmidt, who moved from midfielder, enjoyed playing in the new position.
"It was nice. I started the season there and I haven't played there in the past couple of years," Schmidt said. "Whatever the team needs."
Foxhoven, with five shots, three on target, thought the team did well on Friday.
"I think that our performance was good collectively," Foxhoven said. "We were keeping possession, moving the ball around, switching it from side to side, and that's exactly what coach told us to do before the game."
Foxhoven was affected by the loss of her teammate, Enyeart.
"It was definitely different. She's always a threat on the field and she's definitely a unique player and was a big part of our team," Foxhoven said. "But I think we are adjusting to it and accepting it for what it is and moving forward."
Three goals followed Schmidt's and the Pilots continued to surge forward for the rest of the game. Scoring at 32 minutes and 32 seconds, Foxhoven, with the help of freshman midfielder Taylor Brooke's fancy footwork, received the ball in front of the box and punched into the upper right corner of the goal from eight yards out.
Although there was a solid Denver shot in the first half, Senior goal keeper Kelsey Davis dove for an amazing save, snuffing the Denver opportunity. The Pilots ended the half with a 2-0 lead.
After the second whistle, the Pilots hit the turf poised and still filled with energy.
Although Denver attempted to come back in the second half, the Pilots continued to shut down any offensive progress made by the Denver squad.
Capitalizing on the cut-out passes and stolen balls, the Pilots turned Denver's misfortune into an offensive opportunity.
Scoring at 59 minutes and 4 seconds, freshman midfielder Kendall Johnson, assisted by Schmidt, slammed her second goal of the season in from six yards out. Ten minutes later, Brooke scored with help of junior Jessica Tsao, belting a goal from 25 yards out."
Coach Garrett Smith thought the 4-0 win was great for the team.
"Great way to start. Got a lot of people in, lot of rest for the second game," Smith said.
With Washington in their minds, Smith played the game to make sure that the team had enough energy to play Washington, often substituting to allow players to rest.
"As the playoffs wear on, it becomes a long season," Smith said. "I just think we got to keep our focus, keep our energy, and keep doing what we're doing because we look good right now,"
And that they did.
Last Sunday, playing through pouring rain as fog and clouds drifted over from the West Hills, the Pilots defeated Washington in a close 2-1 battle.
With fouls and rough playing from both sides, each player that was tripped elicited gasps and heckles from fans of both schools on the overcast day.
Mixed in with these rowdy shouts, the Washington band also played at the event.
Playing modern popular music and traditional college rally music, the air was electric as the teams faced each other.
In the first half, the Pilots came out strong and had possession for a majority of the half.
The Pilots passed well, often kicking it back to reassess the best possible goal route.
Coming out fresh from Friday's game, the Pilots took a staggering 23 shots, six on target, from eight players in the night.
These shots, although sometimes right on target, were often wide. The score at the end of this first half was still 0-0.
As the Pilots returned to the field, the whistle was followed quickly by a yellow card being issued to Washington's Chelsea Bumbaugh in the first eight seconds of the half.
Six minutes later, Bumbaugh received another yellow and was ejected from the game.
With one woman down, Denver struggled to defend against the superior numbers.
In the 55th minute, Schmidt ran down the sidelines, punching a cross over to center of the field after a Foxhoven pass.
Sophomore midfielder Halley Kreminski scored the first goal at 54 minutes and 55 seconds, burying it into the lower left corner of the goal right in front of the penalty box.
Bouncing back, the Huskies scored a goal in less than a minute
"I mean it's just a little bit of a rollercoaster emotionally," Kreminski said. "But we knew that we had control of the game and that chances were coming - and we just had to continue to be patient."
This paid off in the 88th minute when Kreminski scored another goal. Receiving a pass from Schmidt, Kreminski once again shot on the goal keeper.
Colliding with the keeper's glove, the ball slipped through the Washington keeper's grasp, giving Kreminski two on the night and the Pilots a second round win.
Schmidt did not even know Kreminski was there.
"My thought process was 'keep it low,' hit a far post and naturally a forward should be running into that space any way," Schmidt said.
"Exactly what we expect out of Washington in the playoffs," Smith said. "These two teams are too familiar with each other not to make it a competitive game, especially this late in the season, as everybody deserves to be here."
Smith thought the team, having patience through the 23 shots on the day, did a great job.
"But I was glad to see at the end of the day that we kept our patience, we kept looking to be goal dangerous, and obviously capitalized on a late goal there which was awesome to see," he said.
In preparation for the next game, Smith said the Pilots will continue to deal with their game and not worry about Virginia.
"There are some things that we can clean up and make ourselves maybe a little bit be more dangerous," Smith said. "Keep the ball a little bit longer, continue to create opportunities ... but it all comes down to the individual players."
The Pilots will be facing the #3 Virginia Tech tomorrow at Merlo Field at 7:00 p.m.
The Virginia Tech Hokies will travel to Portland tomorrow to play the Pilots in the third round of the NCAA Playoffs at 7 p.m.
The Hokies have a 16-7-0 record for the season.
They have managed to sustain a 0.128 shot percentage, scoring 44 goals out of 344 shots in the season, and also have 1.91 goals scored per game.
Portland, on the other hand, has accumulated a 0.215 shot percentage, scoring 78 goals out of 362 shots.
Additionally, the Pilots, who have been cutting through the opposition all season, have almost double the Hokies goals per game, scoring an average of 3.71 goals over the course of their season.
Portland's offense has the potential to beat the Hokies if they are able to maintain the ability to produce chances through shots, as has been the case throughout the season with a staggering 17.2 shots per game.
Coming into the game, the Hokies may capitalize on their recent two-game winning streak.
They will have to outshoot Portland, as they average only 15 shots per game.
If the Pilots are successful, they will then move to the quarter finals where they will play either UCLA Bruins (19-2-1) or the Virginia Ca valiers (10-5-6).
