#17 Eagles Soccer Gets Season Opener Underway with #2 William Carey

Waleska, GA - Reinhardt Women's Soccer team has a busy and challenging schedule before their conference play begins.  The first three games are all with NAIA Top 25 opponents with #2 William Carey, #6 Keiser University, and #18 SCAD Savannah. The Eagles are coming into the season ranked #17 so each of these games will be highly competitive. 

William Carey came to the campus of Reinhardt on Saturday, August 27th for a late afternoon match before heading back to Hattiesburg, MS. The Crusaders were bringing their #2 ranking with them along with a great brand of soccer that has skilled and talented athletes.

The game started with both teams trying to get a feel of each other, however, it was William Carey that would control the ball most of the first half.  The defense seemed to be always trying to stop a run by the Crusaders and Eagle Goalkeeper, Sarah Bambrick, was determined to allow one to get past her. Despite the constant attack by William Carey, the Eagles were able to hold their own and keep the score at 0-0 twenty minutes into the first half.  The first goal did not come until the 20th minute when a crusader was finally able to sneak one over the head of Bambrick.  It did not take long for the second goal as one more would get past the Eagle defense.

Although they were down a couple of goals, the Eagles were still hanging tough on defense and would occasionally get a transition against the head Crusader attack. Carrie Consolino, Ryelyn Wells, and others were able to move the ball down the field in the last part of the first half.  They were able to get a couple of shots at William Carey's goal, but unfortunately, no goals. The Crusaders were able to get one in the last minute of the half making the score 3-0 at halftime.

The second half would see the momentum swing in favor of the Eagles as the defense was able to staop the attack by William Carey and have some tricky passing plays that moved the ball up the field. Most of the time, it was Consolina that was getting the ball around midfield and she was able to make good turns on the Crusader defense. She was able to get a shot off early in the second half that just narrowly missed the backside of the goal. 

Another chance came moments later when Consolino hit a cross that would hit a sprinting Eagle on the back post, however, they were not able to coral the ball in order to punch it into the net. Those were two of the best chances for the Eagles and would have drastically changed the outcome of the game. As the season progresses, look for the combinations of Consolino, Wells, and others to get in the same groove and start putting the ball in the back of the net.

William Carey was able to get one more goal in the 75th minute when one of the Crusaders was able to hit a 25-yard shot that would just barely go over the outstretched arms of Bambrick.  This would be the final goal of the game making the final 4-0 to William Carey.

Sarah Bambrick had a great game in the goal stopping 12 potential goals from William Carey. Many of her saves were her getting horizontal to the left or right to tap the ball away from the Eagles' goal.  Carrie Consolino lead the way for the Eagles with 2 shots on goal (both just barely missing), Haley Sturla, Adriana Garcia, Marta Vicente-Arche, and Channing Pantano were all able to get one shot each on goal.

Head Coach Andy Kaplan had this to say about the game, "I'm very proud of our team. William Carey has one of the best teams I have seen in my 21 years coaching NAIA soccer. We learned a great deal today and will continue to improve every day. Today confirms my belief in these girls. We will be very successful this season."

The Eagles will be back in action this Saturday evening, September 3rd, when they travel to Savannah to take on #18 SCAD and then they will play again against #6 Keiser on Monday, September 5th. The game at Keiser will be played at SCAD. The Eagles will be back home on Saturday, September 10th, when conference play begins with Bluefield at Ken White Field.