Winning streak ends at 10
By: Spencer Gleason
-Sports Editor-
When the buzzer marked the final, after overtime in the STLCC Lady Archers home soccer game against the Cobras from Parkland College, on Oct. 9, the scoreboard read 2-1 in favor of the visiting Cobras. It was the Lady Archers third loss this season and first since Sept. 1.
Since the 4-0 loss that happened during the Lady Archers stretch of road games in Melborne, Florida over Labor Day weekend, the Lady Archers rattled off ten wins in a row and went undefeated on the home turf at theSTLCC- Meramec campus.
“I would say since we came back from our Florida trip, we have been on a roll,” Lady Archer head coach Juergen Huettner said after their 5-1 win over Metropolitan Community College-Maple Woods for the ninth consecutive win. “That is for sure.”
Over that stretch of ten games, the Lady Archers outscored their opponents 34-6 and shutout the opposition six times. Two freshman forwards, Donna Jollif and Jessica Smugala, helped lead their team on the scoring front.
While Smugala led the team with nine goals, including hat tricks in back-to-back games on Sept. 15 and Sept. 18, Jollif had five goals and six assists during the winning streak.
“I love being out on the field,” Jollif said after the win over Maple Woods. “I have been playing this sport since I was three or four years old, so I have played it a long time. Being out on the field and playing with people that I love to play with makes playing and winning even better.”
Along the way, the Lady Archers were able to get a lucky bounce when they defeated the Lady Lynx from Lindenwood University-Belleville. In the 2-1 victory in double overtime, Jollif was able to put a header in the back of the net.
“I always say good teams that work hard and do the right things, that luck happens to be bouncing their way a little bit. So you can force your luck,” Huettner said. “I have never seen a team who has been lazy and does not give 100 percent effort and then get very lucky. That does not happen. So you have to work hard to get lucky. It is just the way it is.”
Although the loss against the Cobras ended both the consecutive win streak and being undefeated at home, the loss came in overtime — a technicality. The Lady Archers are still undefeated at home in regulation.
The season will still continue and with that comes another game to play — another winning streak to start.
“When you play teams, a lot of teams have 11 starters and then after that it becomes a little bit softer and the bench gets weak,” Huettner said. “I think we are really fortunate this year that we have 11 good starters and then we a good set of players after that coming off the bench. We can sub five players at a time without losing a beat. That makes it interesting and makes us difficult to play against.”
