Women’s Soccer Wins CAC Title
The Frostburg State University (FSU) Women’s soccer team won the CAC title this past weekend after defeating Mary Washington in the title game. The final score of the game was a FSU 2-0 shutout. Junior Erin Worthman and Freshman Melanie Bell scored the two goals for FSU in the contest.
The title game matchup was not what most people had in mind as neither Frostburg nor Mary Washington were high seeded teams going into the playoffs. Frostburg was the 4th ranked team and Mary Washington was the 6th ranked. Being seeded so low definitely factored in on how both teams approached the playoffs. Senior Stephanie Fazenbaker explained how being the 4th seed affected the team, “We played with a bit of a chip on our shoulder, and I think they did too.”
Frostburg’s journey to the CAC title game started off against York College. Earlier in the season, FSU lost to York 0-1. In that game FSU outshot York, but a loose ball in the game’s 25th minute would lead to a York goal that would eventually become the game winning one. This time around the score was flipped and FSU pulled out the victory 1-0. Like the first game FSU outshot York, but this time the margin was closer. The game winning goal came as the second half was about to close when Fazenbaker got the ball back after a missed shot attempt and passed it directly to Junior Chelsie McCoy who scored the game winning goal.
Next for the Bobcats was a match against top seeded Christopher Newport. About two weeks earlier the two teams met up at Bobcat Stadium where the game ended in a tie at 1-1. Like their previous matchup regulation would end with both teams having scored one goal apiece. Two overtime periods were played, but neither team could gain the upper hand leading to the game having to be decided with penalty kicks. Frostburg would go on to win the game after converting connecting on 4 penalty kicks to Christopher Newport’s 3. Frostburg keeper Katie Smith played one of her best games ever as she made 13 saves, a career high for her. For the second time in three years, the Bobcats were headed to the CAC title game.
The CAC title game was a showdown against to underrated teams. Frostburg State University dominated the game and Fazenbaker stated that having played the Eagles before earlier in the season definitely helped the team. She said, “We were confident that we can beat them. We played them earlier in the season and we know what we can do against them.” She was absolutely right as the team would go on to dominate the entire game. They controlled much of the time of possession and dictated the pace of the game. Erin Worthman’s and Melanie Bell’s goals sealed the win for the Bobcats and they are now lay claim as the best in the CAC.
The team’s CAC title victory allows them to play in the NCAA tournament that starts today November 15, against Sunny Geneseo in Baltimore Md.
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