Soccer Recap

2011 Season in Review

The Saint Mary’s soccer team took a big step in the right direction on their way to being an MIAA contender in the 2011 season. The Belles had their first 10-win season since 2005 and had more wins this season as the last three combined.

The Belles jumped out to a stellar 5-0 start, marking the best start since the 1992 team began their year 7-0. Over that five-game span, Saint Mary’s out-scored their opponents 16-1 with nine different team members scoring goals over that stretch. Also during that same start to the season, the team won the Defiance Classic by blanking both Defiance and Thiel by matching 4-0 scores. The Defiance Classic marked the first time since the Sal Vacarro Tournament in 2008 that the Belles clinched a tournament title.

Those first five games were a precursor to what would be the Belles’ strengths all season - strong defense and a diversity of scoring threats.

While defense can be measured by numbers including goals against average and shutouts, most backlines in soccer are noticed for either being strong or not. The 2011 Belles were of the former throughout the season. The team held their opposition to a goal or less on 12 times and allowed two goals or fewer on 17 occasions. In regular season play, only conference champion Adrian and MIAA Tournament winner and NCAA qualifier Alma had fewer instances of surrendering three or more goals this season among the conference’s nine member schools.

Youth was served as underclassmen made up the corps of goalkeepers and defensive backs on the field for the Belles. Freshmen goalkeepers Chanler Rosenbaum and Natalie Warner earned all of the decisions in goal in 2011 while individually accounting for three of the team’s six shutouts. The duo also combined for three more shutouts while classmates Nicole Papiernik and Taylor Dygert also saw time in goal. Rosenbaum had a team-best 63 saves in her rookie season. Warner, meanwhile, had an impressive 0.77 goals-against average as well as a big save on a penalty kick early in the year.

Keying the defense were several freshmen and sophomores. Defensive back Kerry Green was one of just two players to start each of the team’s 20 contests while fellow defender Kerry Puckett was one of a handful of players to see time in each game in 2011.

On the flip side, in nine of the ten games of the season where the Belles scored multiple goals, more than one person was credited with scoring a goal for Saint Mary’s. Moreover, the Belles emerged with a win in each of those ten games when scoring at least two goals. When the season was finished, the 2011 squad had scored more goals (31) than they allowed (28) for the first time since 2007. The 31 tallies was also the first time since the 2005 campaign that the Belles notched more than 30 goals.

The Belles finished their season on a very high note by defeating conference foe Hope 3-0 in the season finale. The win gave the team their first 10-win season since 2005 while the defeat of the Flying Dutch was the first time since 2004 that the Belles handed Hope a loss.

By the conclusion of the season, the team saw 13 different players score at least one goal and 15 total players with either a goal or an assist. Sophomore Jordan Diffenderfer led the team with seven goals while senior Katelyn Tondo-Steele (4), sophomore Mollie Valencia (3), junior Maddie Meckes (3), junior Ashley Morfin (3), senior Michelle Marshall (3), and senior Taylor Paton (2) all had multiple goals on the year.

As the season wrapped up, Mollie Valencia once again was honored by league coaches by being named to the All-MIAA Second Team to mirror the same accomplishment from last season. Valencia was also one of two members of the squad to earn team most valuable player accolades. Kerry Green was also recognized with team most valuable player honors while Michelle Marshall and Katelyn Tondo-Steele earned the Heart Award and the Attitude Commitment Effort (ACE) Award, respectively, at the team banquet.