MEG MORROW / THE DEPAUW
As junior Stephanie Martin summed it up, “It wasn’t the start to Conference we were looking for.”
After a 1-0 win against Franklin College on Wednesday, the Tigers looked to carry their momentum into Saturday’s away game against Hiram College (3-3-1, 0-0-1).
The first half of play was everything the Tigers (2-4-1, 0-0-1) could ask for, as they got off to an early two goal lead thanks to scores from Martin and junior Caroline Zadina.
The second half proved to be disastrous.
“The second half found us struggling to find the game a bit,” head coach Meagan McCormick said. “We had difficulty staying consistently organized.”
Within the first five minutes of second-half play, Hiram cut DePauw’s lead in half with a goal from sophomore midfielder Allie Glatt. But the problems for the Tigers had only begun.
With less than halfway to go in the second half, the Tigers lost their senior goalkeeper in Emma Cooper to injury.
“I was coming out to save a ball, jumped up, and got undercut by a short girl on the other team who was also trying to get the ball,” Cooper, who made five saves before the injury, said. “I don’t think she realized I was there until it was too late.”
Cooper could miss some serious time as she expects to be back playing in two weeks, when the team takes on The College of Wooster at home for its third conference game.
When it looked that the Tigers would still be able to hold on to the lead, sophomore forward Alison Cowell tied it for Hiram up in the last two minutes with an unassisted goal, sending the game into double overtime, where neither team could score.
“The response from the women going into overtime was tremendous,” McCormick said. “We found our rhythm again and created some outstanding opportunities to put the game away. Hiram’s GK came up with some great saves.”
Cooper agreed.
“After Hiram scored their second goal, we picked up the intensity and fought back and tried to win the game,” Cooper said.
Junior Sarah Cho, who filled in for Cooper as goalkeeper, also did her part on defense, recording four saves to secure the tie.
Despite having kept Hiram from fledging a full come-from-behind win, the Tigers were disappointed with the game.
“We still need to get a full 90 minutes of DePauw Women’s Soccer,” Martin, who scored the first of DePauw’s goals, said. “Hiram is a team who we should have put a number of goals on or at least come out with a big win, especially if we had continued to play how we should.”
Despite their loss, McCormick had some positive things to say about the team's future goals.
“One of the goals moving forward is finding a way to immediately respond to disappointment, whether it is missing a shot, giving up a goal or losing a match,” McCormick said. “We have to find a way to respond immediately without losing our composure.”
The upcoming games will prove to be vital for the Tigers, as they look to host the conference tournament. To do this, the team will have to finish in one of the top two spots in the NCAC’s regular season play.
DePauw will continue conference play Saturday, as they play host to Kenyon College (3-4-1) at 12 p.m.