Written by Taylor Purkey. Media by Yoshiko Tanimura.
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At the beginning of every season, the Greenville Women’s soccer team sits down to discuss team goals. This year, one of those team goals includes making the SLIAC tournament to eventually advance to the NCAA tournament. Although the girls are not yet in conference play, head coach, Jeff Wardlaw, made sure to schedule a pre-conference season to prepare the Lady Panthers for the tough conference season that lies ahead.
On Friday September 9th, the Greenville Women’s Soccer Team kicked off a weekend of games. The Lady Panthers played the University of the Ozarks on Friday, and Saturday September 10th they battled against the Rockford Regents. Due to rainy conditions, the field was a muddy mess for both, but the Lady Panthers didn’t let that stop them as they came out with a victory in both matches.
The first few minutes of the Ozarks game proved to be difficult for the Panthers as play was sloppy and communication lacked. However, after a rain delay, the teams entered the field once again and Greenville came out to an energizing start. Before the final whistle blew, GC put three goals into the back of the net resulting in a 3-0 victory. Sophomore Dani Pearce is credited with one goal and senior Jamie Schollenbruch had two goals, one of them being her first collegiate goal. Freshmen Breanna Thomas is credited with two assists. Although the game was muddy and tiring, the Lady Panthers showed no sign of slowing down as they came out to a strong start against Rockford University the next day.
In recent years, Rockford has not even put up a fight against the women’s team. This year the GC Panthers beat the Regents 6-0 and last year was a 10-0 victory. Although the Lady Panthers had played the previous day in the rain, they were a steam train that could not be stopped. Schollenbruch and Pearce each contributed one goal apiece and senior Whitney Warner produced a hat trick by putting three goals in the back of the net. Thomas put one away resulting in her first collegiate goal. Assists are credited to Schollenbruch, Warner, Pearce, Thomas (2) and Junior Liz Pisarek.
After a successful weekend for the Greenville College Women’s soccer team, they had much to celebrate. They now had two wins under their belt and Pearce was awarded as SLIAC’s offensive player of the week. Even a rainy and frustrating start to the weekend could not hinder the efforts of the team when it came to playing the game they all love.
The Women’s soccer team will be back in action this weekend as they head to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to take on Coe College then continue onto Watertown, Wisconsin, to compete against Maranatha Baptist University.
