The Lady Cavs hit the road to take on former AAC member King College on their home turf last Saturday. The Tornadoes came out on top 2-1 in a very closely contested match, bringing the Cavaliers overall season record to 0-2-0. The Cavs struggled offensively early on in the game -- the lone goal for the ladies came late in the game at the 55 minute mark by Haley Eddy. She was unassisted. Freshman goal keeper Caroline Mellard allowed two goals, but racked up 13 saves as the Tornado offense pounded away, with 25 shots on goal.

Head Women's Soccer Coach Don Maples says, " This game was a tale of two halves In the first half we did nothing that resembled soccer. Our offense was completely anemic and we were once again our own worst enemy. There were passes turned over in our the defensive third with no pressure from King. We did not win one ball in the air -- whether it came from passes, goal kicks or punts. We give credit to King with good aggressive play to win those balls. I can't say enough about the back line of KK Thacker, Katie McGary, Annie Poetker and Ashley Edwards, as well as our goalkeeper, Caroline Mellard. They were under pressure the whole first half, and to only be down one at the half was tremendous.

At half time I told the players there were no positives to speak of offensively -- not one. We had no shots, we were only past the half line three times, and I don't think those were from built attacks, but rather clearing the ball. I told them to 'calm down, get their head up, and let us get the ball forward to pressure them.'

For the first 20 minutes of the second half we were a different team. We played through the mid-field, our forwards made their runs, and we got the ball forward as a first option. We started playing more confidently and with more intensity, with more focus and work as a unit defensively up front. Our goal came from that pressure when King was forced to play backwards from their mid-field to the center back. As we applied good pressure from Haley Eddy, her teammates had good cover and balance which forced the King center back to play back to their goalkeeper. Haley kept pressuring, and their goalkeeper hit it off Haley and it rebounded right into the goal from about 18 yards out. For the first 20 minutes of the second half King was scrambling, their players yelling at each other, King coaches weren't happy and the game was still in question. Overall though, this was a case where King showed up strong and we were playing catch up through the match.

We had one key injury, as Ashleigh English had to leave the game early in the second half with a shoulder injury. After checking it out it's been diagnosed as an AC sprain and she should return for our next game. .

The big play and turning point was the no hand ball call on King's second goal. It took the air out of us."

The Cavaliers will regroup and take the field again on Wednesday, September 9th, when they travel to Converse College (NCAA Div II).