Women’s soccer falls late agaist Transylvania

Entering the game with a 6-1 overall record and having won their lone HCAC game this season, the women’s soccer team faced favorites Transylvania University Saturday. Battling through a nearly two-hour rain delay, the Engineers fell to Transylvania 1-0 in the last six minutes of the second half.

The Engineers are continuing their drive to success with the 6-2 record, and are on track for a fifth consecutive winning season, having gone 10-5-3 last year. In the preseason HCAC coaches’ poll released in August, the Engineers were predicted to take third place this year, behind Transylvania and Mount St. Joseph, both previous conference champions. “It was a fairly accurate ranking. St. Joe’s and Transylvania both have strong teams. Rose only recently has started to make noise [in the league],” remarked Head Coach Brad Hauter. According to Coach Hauter, “There was merit to put us at fourth, and merit for second, but third is a good place to start.”

Rose-Hulman came out strong in the first half, outshooting the Pioneers 8-2. Sophomore Morgan Coan led the offense against Transylvania with three shots on goal. “I was able to help move the ball forward to help the offensive attack,” said Coan.

On the defensive side, Rose-Hulman held the line in the first half, allowing only two shots to be fired off by Transylvania. Goalkeeper Katie Benner said this about the game: “I think our defense did a good job at holding them off. They had really athletic forwards, however, and we tried to stop them.”

The first half was broken up for nearly two hours due to a thunderstorm. The second half, however, was undisturbed by the weather, and the Engineers led shooting 5-4. In the second half it was also apparent that both teams came out a bit slower than the first. “I think [the rain] had an effect on both teams’ performance.” said coach Hauter, “ We came out with great energy, but the uncertainty about the game, and how long we had to wait, factored into both teams’ pace in the second half.”

But, as time wound down and a draw seemed imminent, the Transylvania Pioneers put a shot on goal in the top right corner, giving Transylvania the victory. “It was a hard-fought battle. But when it came down to finishing it, Transylvania was the team that did it,” said junior Julie Roebel.

The team has their next game at Manchester College, this Saturday at noon.