By Dominic Rapposelli
Sports Editor
Shorewomen soccer will be the first Washington College Athletics team to host a game this season, with two games opening weekend. Their season will kick off with a matchup on Friday, Aug. 30 hosting Grove City College. This will be the first time the two programs take each other on head to head.
The Shorewomen will follow up the game with opponent number two on Sunday, Sept. 1. Marymount University will make the trek to Chestertown for the twelfth all-time meeting between the squads. Marymount leads the series 5-4, with the teams tying twice.
Seven of the first 10 games will be at home for the group, including four of the first five contests.
Overall, the team will play host an impressive eleven times this season, while only having to travel seven times.
Having a consistent string of home games can benefit a Shorewomen group who only lost once at home last season.
Conference play will kick off for the Shorewomen on Saturday, Sept. 21 against the visiting Dickinson College Red Devils. On Sept. 25, the team will take just their second road trip of the season to face the Bryn Mawr College Owls.
In this season’s Centennial Conference preseason poll, the Shorewomen were slated to finish seventh of eleven squads. The Shorewomen finished seventh last season, just outside of the six team playoff picture.
“Our team dynamic is good, and we’ve been doing a lot of team bonding off of the soccer field. We are looking strong and fit this preseason, and I look forward to everything we can accomplish this season,” junior midfielder Maddy Gaydon said.
The Shorewomen are situated in a highly competitive Centennial, which features seventeenth ranked Johns Hopkins University and twenty-fifth ranked McDaniel College.
According to the Centennial Conference website, “The 2024 campaign figures to be another strong one from top to bottom throughout the conference, with the CC welcoming back three All-Americans, 10 All-Region selections and 29 All-Centennial performers.”
After coming close to a playoff spot each of the last two seasons, the Shorewomen are looking to take that next step into the postseason.
“In the off-season, I was getting touches on the ball and working on finishing. I wanted to focus on capitalizing on scoring opportunities. Goals are hard to come by in soccer, so I personally wanted to prioritize that,” Gaydon said.
Gaydon and the rest of her squad are looking to keep pace with a loaded Centennial Conference and continue the uphill trend that the team has seen.
“Every year we are improving, and this year we want our record to show it. We use everything as fuel to get us to our goal and this year that’s making it to the conference playoffs,” Gaydon said.
The Shorewomen end their season with a pair of games on the rod against Swarthmore and Franklin and Marshall. Both of these teams made the Conference playoffs last season and could be critical at games late in the season for WC.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Photo Caption: WC women’s soccer starts against Stevenson Friday, Aug. 30.