The Eastern Mennonite Royals women’s soccer team took on the team ranked 25th in the country, the Lynchburg Hornets, in a close battle on Wednesday. The Royals kept it a 0-0 game heading into the second half with the ranked Hornets.
In the 62nd minute, the Hornets scored a goal on the board despite the great display of defense by the Royals. The Royals
ultimately fell with a final score of 1-0, but they had an impressive showing – especially on their defensive side – against a top-ranked team in the country.
Despite the loss, the Royals notched an accomplishment on the night – they were just the second team this season to contain the Hornets’ high-powered offense to one goal. Senior Hannah York was impressed with the team’s defensive showing against the Hornets. “I liked how we all defended as a team and worked together to shut down Lynchburg. Also, our first-year goalie had an amazing performance and kept us in the game.”
Junior Sam Livermore knew it was going to be tough to score coming into the game against Lynchburg. “Lynchburg is a really good team and unfortunately when it comes to offensive attacks against them, it is often difficult to penetrate their defense. We had opportunities to put their defense under pressure but fell short of doing so.”
With the season approaching the end, the Royals are looking to find some offense in the next few games to end on a positive note. “We need to find feet rather than relying on space to play the ball. We also need to push numbers up; we play more defensively, which makes it harder to push forward,” said Livermore.
For Hannah York, these will be her last games playing for the Royals and she is looking to get the best out of them.
“These last few games will be sad. These games are my last competitive games as a soccer player so I am just looking forward to having fun with it and still working hard for my teammates,” said York.
With two games remaining on the schedule, the Royals hope to end the season with some momentum. On Wednesday they hit the road to take on Sweet Briar and then return to their home turf to take on Hollins in their season finale.
