WolfPack women’s soccer starting strong

Women’s soccer team wins 7 games before suffering its first loss of the season

TESSA MORHARDT / CLARION

Madison College’s Peyton Trapino fights a College of DuPage player for the ball during her team’s 5-0 win at home on Sept. 10. The WolfPack women’s soccer team is now 7-1 overall and 6-0 in conference play.

It has been a busy couple of weeks for the WolfPack women’s soccer team still, even with five games in the last two weeks, the team has still dominated most of its opponents. After suffering its first loss of the season on Sept. 23, Madison College is now 7-1 overall and are ranked No. 6 in the NJCAA Division III.

If that was not enough to make fans proud, they have posed a 5-0 win against College of DuPage, hustled their way to an overtime golden goal win against No. 9 Joliet Junior College, scored seven times while not conceding a single goal against Triton College, and posed a 6-0 victory against Rock Valley, making this one of the best starts in program’s history.

The game against DuPage on Sept. 10 saw all five goals scored in the second half. It was the first time this season that Madison College did not score in the first half, but they came back after halftime pressuring DuPage and found the back of the net five times, with Meghan Petroski scoring a hat-trick and Peyton Trapino scoring once and putting up two assists.

It was the calm before the storm. Their second game that week, against No. 9 Joliet Junior College was even more thrilling. Madison College put up 16 shots to only 5 from Joliet Junior College, but the WolfPack was unable to convert during regulation play. The game went to overtime and, in the 99th minute, the WolfPack found the back of the net with a goal from Britt Schumann, assisted by Petroski and Trapino.

On Sept. 19, the WolfPack posed another big-time victory, winning 7-0 against Triton College. The game featured goals from five different players: Mary Raemisch and Schumann scored twice, while Petroski, Trapino and Esther Noriega each got to the back of the net one time. Trapino recorded five assists, too.

When nobody thought that it could get better, the WolfPack managed to get another big win on Sept. 21 against Rock Valley College. Madison Colege kept pressuring all game, and dominated throughout. The scorers were Trapino (2), Noriega, Kristina Jensen, Meghan Petroski and Breanna Griffin.

The team did suffer its first setback of the season on Sept. 23, falling to Anoka Ramsey, 4-0, in a non-conference game. The loss was the team’s first shutout since a tough, 1-0 loss in last year’s national tournament. Madison College actually had more shots than Anoka Ramsey, 16-12, but failed to convert.

Madison College travels to Elgin Community College on Sept. 26 before resuming conference play on Sept. 28 at Harper College. The team returns home on Oct. 1 for a match against College of Lake County.

Madison College’s Breanna Griffin kicks the ball away from an opponent
TESSA MORHARDT / CLARION
Madison College’s Breanna Griffin kicks the ball away from an opponent during a recent game.