MOON TOWNSHIP– The Robert Morris women’s soccer team (5-10-2, 3-5-1 NEC) hopes to finish strong on Friday when they take on the St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers (0-15-0, 0-8-0 NEC) at the North Athletic Complex in their last game of the season.
Recapping RMU
The Colonials will play their final game of their season after failing to reach the Northeast Conference Tournament for the fourth consecutive year. That’s not to say that they did not come close, as they dropped a few close games over the entirety of their season. The deathblow for their playoff hopes was their 5-2 loss against NEC-leading Central Connecticut State Blue Devils (9-4-4, 7-1-1 NEC) last Friday. Despite their elimination, the Colonials played a solid game on Sunday in their last road matchup of the year, when they defeated Merrimack (3-13-0, 1-8-0 NEC) by a final score of 1-0. Freshmen Kayla Veloso-Lima and Sheridan Reid both enter the last game with four goals apiece, with Veloso-Lima leading the team with 11 points.
Scouting Saint Francis Brooklyn
The Colonials should have little issue in dispatching the Terriers, who have had an absolutely dismal season. Given that it is their first season in program history, expectations for the squad were not too high. Despite that, the Terriers have disappointed by not having won a single game yet. They have struggled immensely despite the fact that their defense hasn’t been too much of an issue; they’ve only allowed three or more goals in only five of their 15 games. Their main issue has been on offense, where they have scored an impressively bad four goals in total this season, split between two games where they scored two each. They lost both of those games 3-2, of course.
Players to Watch
Henriette Lykke (St. Francis Brooklyn)
The only player on SFB to have both a goal and an assist on the year, the Norwegian is likely the Terriers only hope for offensive production against the Colonials. If Lykke gets shut down, the rest of the team will likely falter as well.
The Senior Class (RMU)
As the 2019 season comes to a close, I’d like to spotlight the senior members of the team for the last match of their collegiate careers. Starting off this list of seniors is goalkeeper Julia Schmid, who has missed most of the year with an injury. Though she never had the chance to shine this season after her injury after only two starts this year, the German keeper started 11 games for the Colonials over her career and was solid in nearly all of them. It’s a shame her time at RMU has to end on the injured list, but she had a solid career here.
Next is midfielder Nicolette Casarcia. Though most of her action in her career came off of the bench, Casarcia has played solid minutes over the past two seasons and was a lone bright spot in their loss to Central Connecticut, as she put up one goal and one assist in the match. She has two goals and one assist this season, and look for her to get some opportunities in her final game.
Megan DiNatale has been a solid defender over her four years here at Robert Morris and has seen her minutes steadily rise over time. This year she has mostly been the first defender off the bench for the Colonials and helped contribute to the team’s usually staunch defense for most of this season. She has one assist over her four-year career, and would it not be special for the possibility of a first goal to come during her last game?
Finally, Kristina Kelley has been a centerpiece of the Colonial women’s soccer team for the past four seasons. When she makes her final start on Friday, it will have been her 51st start in her 52nd career game, which speaks to the consistent and solid play Kelley has given the squad in her time here. Her outstanding 2017 sophomore season saw her score nine goals and tally seven assists, and she enters her last match with three goals in her 2019 season. Though the point totals don’t match the 2017 season, her energy and solid play in the midfield has been contagious for the entire team and her leadership role for this team has gone a long way into shaping it into what it is today. I wish the best of luck to Kelley and the rest of the seniors for whatever it is to come for them, and for a great final match.
Prediction
Though it’s unfortunate that this team will end up missing the NEC Tournament, this team has a lot to be proud of with its performance this year. This is a very young team that can only get better from here. The Colonials should have no trouble taking care of business against SFB, and I’m predicting a 4-0 blowout to send off the seniors in style.
