Last season, Winthrop’s women’s soccer team finished 8th in the Big South with a respectable record of 6-7-2. Even that number can be deceiving, however, considering Winthrop finished half a game back of a three-way tie for 5th place.
This year the Eagles sit at 3-6-2, hovering around a 36% win rate. One difference between last year’s and this year’s Eagles, however, is the ability to win games away from home.
Winthrop women’s soccer has only lost two of its five away games this season, compared to only winning three of their eight last year. Head coach Spencer Smith notes this team’s knack for “playing for each other,” and cites team captains Bailey Fudala and Janae Massey for this shift.
“They have great leadership characteristics. Not only do they play hard but they’re good team players. They care about our program, they care about the players on the team, and they’ve done a tremendous job,” coach Smith said of his star players.
Another difference coach Smith noted was a concerted effort to improve as a team on defense. After allowing 27 goals in 15 games this past season (1.8 per game), this year the Eagles have only allowed 13 goals in 11 games (1.1 per game).
“Defensively, you wanna stay compact as a team,” Smith said. “In the preseason, the space between our midfield, our defenders, our forwards, it was too much of a gap. We’ve done a good job of tightening that up and because of that, we’ve been pretty tough to score on.”
Junior midfielder Jessica Gengler concurs with this sentiment, even going so far as to describe this year’s Eagles as a “defensive-minded team.”
“It’s one of the things we are constantly working on,” Genglar stated in reference to her team’s defensive identity. “I think a big part of our success this year is that our attitude while defending is that this person is not going to get by me.”
On the other end of the field, offensive production has also seen an uptick. Junior forward Annabel Thomas has surpassed last season’s top goal scorer 7-5 in four less games played. With the team’s record in roughly the same place it was at the end of last season, it’ll be interesting to see if this new level of offense can translate to wins.
The Eagles need to win three of their last four games if they want to improve on last season’s record, and with the continuity the team has built over the course of the season, coach Spencer Smith’s squad has a chance to take a step forward.
