Women's Soccer becomes serious Ivy contender

It's no secret: the Yale's women's soccer team is gunning for the Ivy League championship. After the Elis knocked off defending league champion Harvard on Sat., Sept. 27, the other league teams have their sights set squarely on the Bulldog. In handing the Crimson their first league defeat in over three years, Yale demonstrated that it has the talent to beat anyone in the Ivies. The question the team now faces is whether it can maintain this level of play over the course of the campaign.

After the Blue jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, the game went back and forth, until Meg Sullivan, CC '00, scored an overtime goal to give Yale the 3-2 victory.

"You just assume that Harvard will win the Ivy League," Coach Rudy Meredith said. "Now that we beat them, the other teams know that they can take the championship if they beat Yale."

With the rest of the league waiting for them to wither, consistency is now a team priority. The women demonstrated their dedication to this goal with a solid 4-2 victory Tues., Sept. 30 against New Hampshire. Meredith hopes the team will maintain the high level of intensity needed to win every game. "Getting the team motivated to play against Harvard was easy," the coach commented, "but I hope we keep our competitive edge against every team we face."

Julia Tiernan/YH MINE, ALL MINE!: Julie Fromm, MC '99, shields the ball from an approaching Harvard player

Yale isn't the only team that has been winning big games this season. According to Blanca Fromm, SM '98, "There is parity in the league this year. Many traditionally weak Ivy League teams like Columbia and Penn have been surprising their opponents." Another strong Ivy team this year is Dartmouth. Despite losing nine starters last year, the Big Green has had a startling amount of success so far. Earlier this season, Dartmouth tied Hartford, a nationally ranked squad which defeated Yale earlier this season, one of its best outings thus far. Many players feel that the contest against Dartmouth on Sat., Oct. 18, will be one of the biggest games of the year.

Early season losses to Hartford and Fairfield helped the team understand where its game needed improvement, and what it needed to do to win games. "We have been more focused since our first loss," Theryn Gibbons, BR '00, said.

Coming into this season, the team had high expectations. Only three starters graduated from last year's team, which held a school record of 13 wins in one season. Early in the season, however, the team suffered the unfortunate loss of its captain and leading scorer, Jill Rubinstein, DC '98, who suffered a season-ending knee injury during a practice.

After the initial shock from the uncharacteristic loss, the team regrouped and team members stepped up their games to make up for Rubinstein's absence. "We have never relied on a single player to power us through a game, so the loss of Jill, while detrimental, did not devastate the team," Annie Kwon, CC '99, said.

Another surprise this year has been the quality of the freshman class, and the contributions of other underclassmen. Although there are not any freshman starters, the class has made regular and important contributions to the team. "I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the freshman class," Meredith said. Leading the team in goals this year is Sullivan, who was a freshman walk-on. Her teammates noted her incredible speed and described her as a "scoring machine." Sullivan has helped fill the void in the forward lineup left by Rubinstein.

With their record standing at 4-2-1, the Elis have put success within their reach. Back-to-back games this weekend against Princeton on Sat., Oct. 4 and Loyola on Sun., Oct. 5 will test the team's stamina and determine whether they have has what it takes to win the Ivy League.

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