Conference tournaments will soon begin and the stakes are high, but the rules are simple: win, and you’re in; lose, and you go home with nothing.
There is perhaps no conference battle more heated than in the Sunshine State Conference, where some of the nation’s best are gearing up to do battle. The University of Tampa women’s soccer team is determined to take home the conference title and keep the season alive.
The Spartans finalized their season on Thursday against a conference opponent and nationally ranked program, Rollins. Though the Spartans had already wrapped up an SSC tournament berth, the game had seeding implications for both teams.
With Florida Southern in first place for the moment, a win could have seeded Tampa as high as second; a loss could have dropped them all the way to sixth. A win for Rollins could have given them the first seed, but FSC still has two games to play and only needed to win one to wrap up the top spot; a loss could have sent them skidding down to fifth.
From the opening kickoff, it was apparent that the Spartans and the Tars were evenly matched. The game remained scoreless for 90 minutes. One overtime passed, and the game was still tied at zero to zero.
It was not until there were just two minutes left in the game that the invisible wall that had seemed to deter balls all night was broken.
Courtney Peffley sent a cross to Samantha Kay, who smashed a ball into the back of the net from 20 yards out. The goal put the Spartans ahead for good and made it a senior night to remember for Luana Miessa, Pasquale Anderson and honorary team member Lindsay O’Bryan.
With the regular season over, the Spartans have turned their attention to the tournament. The Spartans have wrapped up at least the fourth seed for the tournament, but could end up as high as third. They have guaranteed a home quarterfinal match on Tuesday, Nov. 2.
However, home field advantage may mean little in this tournament, as Saint Leo, which has barely wrapped up the sixth seed of the tournament, brought down the first-place Florida Southern.
Senior Pasquale Anderson said she does not believe that there is an easy road through this tournament, and expressed her excitement at having an opportunity to move on to the NCAA tournament for the second time in her career.
“The teams are really close, one to six; I don’t see anybody getting blown out,” said Anderson. I’m really excited. I’ve only made the tournament once, and that was at [USF].”
However, freshman starter Alyson Gregorowicz felt that the team has truly begun to come together.
“Obviously there are some games that didn’t turn out how we wanted them to, but I think overall the level of play we have is good,” said Gregorowicz. “If we work out the problems that we’ve been having, I think we could win or have a good chance at winning.”
A newfound offensive identity could give the Spartans the boost they need to rise above four teams that beat them during the regular season.
“We are playing a lot with outside mids so most of our goals are from crosses. I think [Coach Lucey] wants us to keep playing outside because it’s the easiest way to find gaps,” said Luana Miessa.
Good goalkeeper play is also crucial for victories, and this year the Spartans have found reliability in a freshman, Leah Cesanek.
“Leah has a lot of confidence as a freshman. She knows she can get the job done, and it help because if she has confidence in herself, we have confidence in her that not every shot’s going to be a goal. That way we can have a little leeway because we’re all going to make mistakes,” Anderson said in praise of her keeper.
Confidence in each other seems to be the key for the Spartans. Anderson said that ironically, because of more competition for starting spots, this team is much closer than last year’s team was.
Communication and finishing are still concerns expressed by Anderson and Gregorowicz, but both players feel that these areas have improved a great deal from the beginning of the season.
“We need to finish more. We usually dominate teams, but where we let down is scoring,” said Gregorowicz. “I think we’re talking more, but we still need more if we’re going to do really well in the tournament.”
After sitting out for her entire junior year, senior Luana Miessa hopes to make the most of her final opportunity to play college soccer and makes a resolute statement that exemplifies the level of expectation the team has for itself.
“We need to keep our focus for the last few games because if you make a little mistake it can screw up everything – three months of working hard. So that’s the most important [thing] now – just being focused and doing what we have to do.”
The Spartans certainly have some of the key components of a championship-caliber team – talent, confidence, work ethic – but whether they perform up to their potential will make the difference in the end, for performance under pressure is the difference between contenders and pretenders.
Stay tuned for more men and women’s soccer team postseason coverage on theminaretonline.com and minaretblog.com.
Davis Fox can be reached at davison.fox@spartans.ut.edu.