The writing was almost on the wall when the bus drove out of Harrisonburg. The EMU soccer women left three regular players home from Wednesday’s road game at Ferrum, and the loss of personnel was tough to overcome. A stomach bug knocked out Laura Rittenhouse (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) and Shaylla Oswald (Broadway, Va./Broadway), who had accounted for 67% of the Royals’ goals entering the game, as well as Emily Young (Fredericksburg, Va./Massaponax), who is splitting time in goal, putting a big challenge in front of the remainder of the team.
Still, Eastern Mennonite kept up with a talented Ferrum squad in the first half. The Panthers pounced quickly with a goal just 1:07 in. But the Royals struck back 11 minutes later, when junior Amanda Williams (Millsboro, Del./Delmarva Christian) assisted Ariel Barbosa (Baltimore, Md./Towson) on her first career goal.
With temperatures in the low 90s, the shortened bench caught up with the women in the second half. Ferrum scored in the 48th to go back up by one. The defense did a good job of holding off their hosts from more, but the offense didn’t attempt a shot in the frame. A later Panther header made the final 3-1 margin.
Barbosa and Rachel Sturm (Denton, Md./North Caroline) attempted EMU’s only shots. Leah Wenger (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) made seven saves defending the net.
The Royals now get a fortuitous break in their schedule, with a full week before their next game at Emory & Henry next Wednesday. Due to the ODAC’s new unbalanced schedule this year, the two were not scheduled to play, but they set up a friendly, of sorts, meaning the result will not count towards their respective conference records.
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