Playoff Push

 This past weekend the Bloomsburg women's soccer team faced off against the Shippensbur Lady Raiders. Earlier in the season, Shippensburg beat the Huskies 1-0. On Saturday, Bloomsburg received a second chance at defeating their rivals, as BU stepped onto the waterlogged turf, prepared to play and to claim a deserved victory.

            From the very start of the game, both teams played with intensity. However, Bloomsburg managed to dominate throughout the game by executing consecutive passing patterns, especially give and go's. BU senior Kelly Modes points out a valuable attribute of her team by saying, "Our team's biggest strength is our desire to win and our intensity." In the first period of the game, Shippensburg had no shots on goal, where as BU took three shots on goals. Of these three shots, two went into the net. At the 24 minute mark of the first period, Huskies senior, Kelly Mode, scored with an assist from junior Kristine Preski.

            Bloomsburg scored again 13 minutes later. This time, senior Eileen Alexander scored with an assist from sophomore Shannon Andersen to bring the Huskies to a 2-0 lead. Especially in the first period, BU created opportunities to score. Bloomsburg's head coach Sandra Dickson states, "The players focused on making good decisions in the final third of the field, and that intelligent play led to the goal scoring opportunities."

            The Huskies entered the second period with a  a two goal lead, which was later cut in half when Shippensburg managed to score a goal. The Lady Raiders showed more intensity as they sought to tie the game. However, with two minutes left in the game BU freshman Lauren Stedman scored an unassisted goal to bring the final score of the game to 3-1.

            BU's offense and defense both made stand out plays, contributing to the win. Head coach Sandra Dickson agrees by saying, "The win was a result of our team playing smart, intelligent soccer."  With the season progressing, BU will be able to win more games and enter post-season playoffs by playing as a team the way they did on Saturday.