While the opening weeks of the season yielded unwelcome results for the women's soccer team from Montreat College, the final match of September and the opener in October hinted at a team growing more cohesive and able to generate previously elusive goals.As the 2009 season began, Coach Don Maples watched as the Lady Cavaliers lost five matches by a total of six goals while finding the net only once, during a 2-1 loss at King College.

    But the past two matches have offered hope as well as evidence that the team's dedication is creating better results.  After a 1-1 draw with Columbia College on September 29, Maples observed that the Lady Cavaliers finally looked like "attacking team."  He was particularly pleased that the team faced an all-too-familiar 1-0 deficit (the very same score by which they had lost three matches already this year) but that his squad "showed great character by fighting back to tie" the match on a goal by Brittany Zachrich's off an assist by Emily Myers.

    Sensing that a breakthrough win might come on Homecoming weekend, the team played its finest game of the year on Saturday, October 3 - though it saved most of the drama for the final ten minutes.  After Cumberland University seized a 1-0 lead late in the second half, Montreat College turned to Senior Kaitlyn Thacker.  Thacker scored two goals from free kicks less than a minute apart to stun Cumberland.  The win raised the team's record to 1-5-1 as they enter return to play in the Appalachian Athletic Conference, where they have an 0-2 mark.

    Encouraged by the team's ability to fight back in the past two matches, Maples sees a chance to extend an unbeaten streak as the Lady Cavaliers face a struggling Bluefield College squad on October 7 at 2:00 PM at their home field on the Black Mountain campus.