By Zack Peñalva, Sports Editor
Men’s soccer
After scrapping their way to a winning record last year, this season proved to be much harder for the men’s team. All told, the Eagles played against five teams ranked in the top-10 in the nation, including twice against University of Rio Grande, a team that’s been in and out of the number one spot. When the Eagles won, it usually didn’t come easy. Besides a 4-1 victory over Ohio Christian and a 5-0 drubbing of Brescia, they squeaked wins out two wins in overtime, and won two nervy 1-0 affairs against conference opponents.
While there was a general lack of firepower on the offensive side of the ball for the Eagles, there biggest threat came from Ryan Metcalf. The sophomore led the Eagles in scoring with 12 goals. Besides Metcalf, freshman Austin Baker proved to an important part of the attack. He provided four assists from the wing and also proved to be a dangerous free kick taker. His goal against Brescia in the KIAC quarterfinal game was one of the finest all season.
With a fairly young team, the Eagles will be able to do a lot of rebuilding en route to next season.
Women’s soccer
The Eagles had a bitterly disappointing end to an otherwise stellar 2015 campaign, as a 1-0 loss to KIAC opponent West Virginia Tech ended their hopes for any silverware this season. But that bottom line is a poor way of addressing the women’s season as a whole.
As a team, they proved to be a force to be reckoned with in the KIAC. After a decent showing in conference play last year, this year’s Eagles team was a force to be reckoned with. After stringing together five consecutive wins in September, the team caught fire in mid-October. They won seven in a row, outscoring their opponents in that span by an outrageous line of 21-3.
Sophomore Brooke Perkins provided great cover for the Eagles back four. She started all 18 of the Eagles’ games, conceding only 17 goals and making 89 saves. As a whole, the defense was extremely disciplined, only receiving seven yellow cards over the course of the season and only conceding a single penalty
On offense, it was a fantastic final lap for senior Teryn Wright. After starting all 18 games for the Eagles, she ended her season with a team-high 13 goals and seven assists. Right behind her on the scoring list was freshman Emily Hubbuch. The freshman should factor in as in important part of the Eagles attack going forward after her nine goal, four assist year.
