Women’s Soccer focus is game-to-game

September 7, 2017
Already battling injuries, the Wheaton Women’s Soccer team beat Whitworth University and lost to Loras College on Friday, Sept. 1 and Saturday, Sept. 2.
Head Coach Pete Felske said, “We’re just trying to fight through some games here at the beginning of the year and not suffer any more tough situations injury-wise.”
Against Whitworth, the Thunder scored four times and senior goalie Kathryn McGregor allowed the Pirates to only score once, according to the Wheaton Athletics website.
“I thought it was a good game up and down the line from our starts to our reserves,” Felske said. “We played and moved the ball well. It was good to see some goals scored.” Junior forward Chelsea Gnan scored a hat trick in the game and the other goal was a successful penalty kick shot by freshman forward Izzy McNally around the 43-minute mark. McNally is one of ten freshman on the roster, and Felske said that they start two or three each game.
Loras College beat Wheaton on Saturday with a final score of 2-1. “They executed what they do well better than the way we executed what we do well,” Felske said. “They were bigger, stronger and more aggressive.” By scoring the first goal of the game two minutes into the second half, the Duhawks — who have 14 seniors on their roster — played with overwhelming confidence, according to Felske. Sophomore Audrey Jensen scored Wheaton’s only goal of the game off of a corner kick by junior midfielder Anna Saunders.
“If or when we enjoy success this year, it will be because of numbers and depth, not because there are one or two players carrying the team,” Felske said. With four seniors on the team and one All-Regional player in junior midfielder Madison Pebbles, Felske knows that his team does not include a superstar All-American at the moment.
“We’ve had great teams that have been very successful and we’ve had great teams that have had two or three All-Americans on it as well,” Felske said. “This team does not have that, so we’ll have to rely on everyone doing their job, playing their role to the best of their abilities and hopefully getting healthy.”
This weekend the Thunder Women’s Soccer team will travel to Virginia to face Roanoke College on Friday, Sept. 8 at 5 p.m. and Lynchburg College on Saturday, Sept. 9 at 7:30 p.m. According to Felske, this is Wheaton’s first time facing both Roanoke and Lynchburg, the latter of which  has been consistently nationally ranked.