Bethel Women’s Soccer Battles Rams to a Tie in Home Opener
Despite 17 shots and a strong defensive effort, Threshers settle for a 1–1 draw.
On Saturday morning, the Thresher women's soccer team played their first game at home, hosting the Texas Wesleyan Rams. Bethel was coming off a long road trip from Iowa last weekend, where they were unable to pick up any wins. This marked the start of the James “Jim” Lipocky era at Thresher Stadium. Bethel had 10 returners in their starting 11; freshman Amanda Valladares from Calama, Chile, would make her second start of the season.
The game started strong with back-and-forth action as both teams looked to settle the ball and maintain it. The Thresher's defense looked to swing the ball side to side, waiting for a gap to open and squeeze the pass in. Two sophomores, Madison Davis and Regina Mendoza, and junior Yuly Torres looked to control the ball in the middle, playing in the midfield position.
“I thought the first half was okay; in the second half, we played very, very well. I thought we just moved the ball extremely well. That's something we've been trying to do, you know—this is a process,” said Lipocky. “You know, we're not going to build Rome in a day, so it's just a matter of basically laying down what the expectations are.”
The Lady Rams would not be afraid to get the ball and drive up the field and have a couple of early shots against Bethel goalkeeper Jacie Scott. Both teams continued to test each other, with eight shots recorded in the first half. The deadlock would come to an end in minute 32 as senior Beth Lloyd, from Manchester, England, opened up the goal sheet for the Threshers.
“It's great. It's always great to help the team out and be able to score a goal,” said Lloyd. “I have to thank my team, because without May running through and putting her body on the line, I wouldn't have been able to.”
Wesleyan would fire off one more shot before going into halftime, but Bethel held the lead momentarily at 1-0. Five minutes into the second half, Bethel’s sophomore Malaysia Larque fired a shot that the Rams’ keeper saved. The Rams would react and score a goal from 35 yards out to level the game minutes later.
Bethel would finish the game by out-shooting the Rams 17-14, which had both teams at five shots on target. The Threshers would look to drive forward but were unable to get the goal that would give them a win in the home opener. The next time the Threshers take the home field will be Sept. 17 at 5 p.m. against Kansas Wesleyan to start conference play.