What do you do when your soccer team is down three
goals to none at halftime?
Give the ball the Missy Matusewicz '02.
Following a halftime talk in which Coach Brian Speck
told the players to simply score one goal every 15 minutes against Ithaca,
Matusewicz did just that. She then assisted Katie Smith in triple overtime
to propel the Dutchwomen into Saturday's second-round game at UCAA rival
William Smith, a contest Union lost 4-1.
“We played a lot of soccer that day,” said
Matusewicz, the leading scorer in Union history. “Coach was positive
at halftime. He told us to play like a desperate team, because that's
what we were.”
Not only was this the soccer team's first NCAA
appearance, it was the first NCAA win in the 30-year history of women's
sports at Union.
The team finished the season at 16-3-1 and 4-1-1 and
second place in the UCAA.