The Lady Terriers are off to a 1-1 start this season, and a lot has occurred around the team on and off the field. Before the season began, Coach Ceri Miller was fired just two years after starting the program. Miller was followed by four girls from her own old coaching position at Goucher College in Maryland to help the program get started, and with their coach gone, these players were understandably upset. Jess Borucki, a player from last year’s squad who followed Miller and has since transferred back to Goucher College, felt “they (the athletics program) fired her without a reason” after two years of stellar reports. Miller was replaced by Coach Elizabeth Ellis on an interim basis. She was the head coach at her alma mater Adrian College in Michigan.
Despite the turmoil and going 2-15 last season, the Lady Terriers managed to start season off with a 14-13 win at Presbyterian on Feb. 16. Ally Furnari ‘22 led the team with four goals, Grace Geraghty ‘22 and Hannah Wurzel ‘21 both added two goals and one assist and Elizabeth Ralph ‘22 added two goals of her own. Ralph also won the SoCon defensive player of the week, racking up three ground balls, three caused turnovers and securing four draw controls. The team could not continue their momentum into the next game, however, and lost 21-6 to Campbell on Feb. 23. Sophie Smith ‘19 managed a hat trick, Elizabeth Ralph added another pair of goals and Ally Fernari added the final score to the total.
The team is on the inexperienced side, featuring eight freshman, eight sophomores and only three seniors. “We’ve got a young team, which also makes us a little unreliable.” Coach Ellis stated, “Teams don’t exactly know what side is going to show up. A lot of them have only seen us play once… We’ve got that edge on everybody. They don’t know what to expect, especially with the coaching change, you never really know what is going to happen throughout the season. We have to keep the energy intense and make every game count.” The team will also rely on its aggressive man-to-man style instead of the zone most college defenses play. Though it is more tiring and physically demanding, Coach Ellis also feels it is more effective. “We run it because it works so well,” she said, “Our team communicates very well, making sure defensively we’re all working as a unit.”
The Lady Terriers have played two games between this article’s writing and the printing of this paper. They occurred on Fri., March 1 at Gardner-Webb and Sun., March 3 against Longwood University as the home opener. The scores and stats can be found online at woffordterriers.com. The next two game the team plays are both at home, the first on Thurs. March 7 against Saint Francis, then on Wed., March 13 against Butler University.
Caption: The three seniors on the team, Monica Branch (13), Sophie Smith (21), and JoJo Franklin (22).
