Since my freshman year in 2007, the women’s soccer team has gone 2-26-3 in NESCAC. Yes, that’s a winning percentage of .071. And, yes, both of those wins came in 2007. Meaning the ladies haven’t won in conference in two and a half years (they were 0-8-1 in 2008, 0-9-0 in 2009, and are currently 0-3-1 in 2010). Honestly, it’s pretty brutal.
But those stats don’t paint the whole picture.
A little fun-fact for ya: the women are 13-4-0 over that same time period out of conference. That’s a .765 winning percentage! That’s really good! Since 2007! That’s three and a half years! What gives? How are they that good out of the NESCAC, but so atrocious within it? What’s going on here?
The obvious answer, of course, is that the NESCAC is the strongest D-III conference in the country. In other words, Williams and Amherst are a little better than Mitchell and Mt. Holyoke. But it has to be more than that. Conn’s not just in the wrong league—we compete well in every other sport, so what should make women’s soccer any different?
According to senior captain Candice Clark, it all has to do with mindset. In years past, she says, the Camels have gone into games “hoping not to lose by too much,” instead of actually thinking they could win. Approaching matches with little hope unsurprisingly turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you don’t think you can win, you usually don’t.
This season, such a mindset has been the main issue Clark and her fellow seniors, Emily Webb and Chelsea Johnson, have tried to fix. Instead of hoping not to get blown out, the Camels are preparing for games like they should win.
So far, it’s kind of worked. Emphasis on the “kind of.”
In 2010, the women are 0-3-1 in the NESCAC, and still looking for that illusive conference victory. On Saturday they fell to Bowdoin 3-1.
But the loss came just a week after the Camels tied league-leading Amherst, 1-1, in a game many of the ladies thought they should have won. So we are making some progress. A tie against the Lord Jeffs a year ago would have been nothing short of a miracle. This year it’s a little less surprising.
So, the new attitude, although not solving all of the Camels’ issues, seems at least to be helping. And with a strong freshman class, things should only be getting better.
In the words of Clark, the Camels “love their freshmen.” All eleven of them. Kate Wegener ’14 is tied for the team lead with two goals, and fellow newbie Celia Alvarez ’14 has their only assist. The upperclassmen made a point since the beginning of the season to be welcoming and inclusive with the freshman, and so far the team chemistry has benefited greatly from it.
With a new attitude and an influx of new faces, the Camels are looking and playing like a new team, even if their record doesn’t show it. There is a lot of hope and confidence on the 2010 squad, and all of that should lead to good things. In fact, I would bet on a NESCAC win by the end of the season.
I think.
