The Centenary Women's Soccer team’s 2022 season is quickly approaching. With their first game on the 20th of August, that does not leave much time for them to prepare. Before the season even started, some of our very own Ladies got hand-picked to play across the Atlantic for the 2022 Beyond Sports Spain Soccer Tour this past summer. Celeste Muniz, Yosi Bouslog, and Gabby McDonald were all selected for this team; Yosi and Gabby went and represented well with two wins under their belt. Yosi and Celeste, as well as Sydney Bascomb, were all all-conference selects for the past two consecutive seasons. 

The Ladies will be scrimmaging Jarvis Christian, who is known for being a very chippy team. They beat Jarvis 3-0 during their spring season but, despite the score, it was a very eventful game with the opposing team using very hateful words at many players, then taking a swing on two of our players in the last thirty seconds of the match.

 Head Coach Crespo says, “Our schedule will challenge us and test us in a variety of ways, so we will have to rise to those challenges with hard work and determination to achieve our goals of being successful as a team.” With only twenty-seven players on the team, and not all fully healthy at that, combined with the intense heat we have had this summer and twenty-one games on the schedule, it is going to be a rough season physically and mentally for these players. Luckily all eleven starters from last season are returning, including Gabby McDonald, Veronica Dougherty, and Avery Sanderson, who are all playing while participating in the master's program here at Centenary. 

After their first scrimmage, the season picks up quickly with a large number of matches. Only three games into their season, they will have their first conference game against St. Thomas on September the third at 5 pm on Mayo field which will also double as a pink-out game. This is not the only exciting home game this year, though. The Ladies are also playing Alcorn State, a Division-1 team that the Ladies bested last season 2-1. Crespo says their coach excitedly calls daily about the rematch, so that game will be an intense one. Including these two games as well as the scrimmage, the women’s team has twelve home games and nine away games. When the Ladies' season comes to an end, they will have a senior night on Mayo field against the reigning SCAC champions Trinity College. 

The women’s team is making changes this season to try and combat their record from last year. Crespo says with all the returners and the freshman class, including Aubrey Burkhart, Kylie Zeller, and Kayla Yancey, who will be expected to make an immediate impact, the season is going to be an exciting one. Overall, the Ladies are hoping and working to bounce back from last season with a new mindset as well as a new assistant coach, Che Walcott, and make it to the SCAC Tournament in early November.

Madison Ersoff

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