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Preview: Lady Hawks riding hot streak into SSAC Tournament play
SSAC Quarterfinals
East No. 2 Shorter (10-7-1) vs. West No. 3 Auburn-Montgomery
(11-6)
Saturday, November 6 • 1 pm
Ben Brady Field
ROME, Ga. - They started the season with a new coach, without their two top scorers from a year ago and with just two wins in their first eight matches.
Three months later, armed with 10 wins, a No. 2 seed and plenty of confidence after a furious run to end the regular season, that uncertain start to the year seems oh so far in the past.
On Saturday, Nov. 6 at 1 p.m. when the Lady Hawks line up against SSAC West No. 3-seed and No. 24-ranked Auburn University-Montgomery in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Southern States Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament at Ben Brady Field, they will do so in the midst of playing some of their best soccer of the season, far removed from what was a forgettable beginning to 2010.
"We played some great competition early in the season and took some tough losses," said Shorter head coach Jennifer Colley, who in her first year at the helm has guided the Lady Hawks to their first season of double digit wins since the 2002 Lady Hawks went 11-9.
"The girls learned valuable lessons from each of those games - win or lose - and I believe those tough lessons learned are paying dividends now," the coach added. "We hope that the knowledge we gained early in the season by playing crossover games [against the SSAC West] will pay off as we see these teams for a second time in the conference tournament."
One of those tough, early losses came at the hands of the very same Auburn-Montgomery squad - in the Lady Hawks' season opener, no less - as the then No. 13-ranked Lady Senators got a goal from Jana Yates in the 70th minute to pull out a 2-1 decision in Montgomery, Ala.
That loss began a downward spiral for the Lady Hawks, who stumbled out of the gates and suffered four heartbreaking one-goal losses within their first seven outings.
A 3-0 loss on the road to University of Mobile - the top seed in the West which is also ranked 14th in the country - dropped Shorter to 2-6, and although no conference games had been played, the Lady Hawks were in need of something to go positively for them.
"In the first half of the year, we were working so hard, but just ran into some bad luck," said Colley. "We weren't catching any breaks.
"The Spring Hill game was a big step for us because we learned how to win."
The Spring Hill game was the next match on the schedule, and when Shorter's Rachel Wood scored with two minutes remaining to give the Lady Hawks a dramatic 2-1 win, something among the team clicked.
Shorter has not been the same team since.
Starting with the Spring Hill win, the Lady Hawks are 8-1-1 in their last 10 matches. Shorter's only loss came to two-time defending NAIA national champion and No. 2-ranked Lee University, and even in that game, played for the second straight year in Cleveland, Tenn., the Lady Hawks pinned the first conference goal of the season on the Lady Flames and led 1-0 with 39 minutes to go.
Shorter's offense, which produced just nine goals in its first eight games, has sprung to life behind the trio of Wood, freshman Kelli Davis and junior Brandi Greenwald.
Wood, a senior, is enjoying her best season as a Lady Hawk with a career-high nine goals to go along with three assists. She recorded her first hat trick of her career earlier in the season and has scored six of her goals on the friendly turf of Ben Brady Field.
Davis scored her first collegiate goal in that opener against AUM and has been a consistent performer all season with six goals and five assists. Davis' muscle has been a great contrast to the speed of Greenwald, a transfer from Brewton-Parker who has five goals and team-high six assists to her credit.
All told, Wood, Davis and Greenwald have combined for 20 of Shorter's 26 goals.
"The combination of these players is really what makes them dangerous," Colley said of her trio of forwards. "They combine different skill sets of speed, strength and power along with the ability to finish around the goal. They have developed a great chemistry up top and really know how to play off of each other."
As good as the Shorter offense has been at times, the defense has been strong all season.
Headed up by sophomore goalkeeper Taylor Hays and central defenders Adrian Hicks and Kacie Farrer, the Lady Hawks' defensive unit has allowed just 22 goals - five of those came against Lee and the number still ranks sixth in the SSAC - while Hays' 1.19 goals against average ranks fourth in the conference.
Hays has six shutouts - four of which have come in Shorter's last seven matches - which is a Shorter single-season record, and Farrer has even displayed her versatility with a pair of free kick goals to go along with two assists out of the back.
"The overall speed and experience of our back line makes them very tough to break down," Colley said. "Hicks and Farrer have played on our back line for three straight years now and [sophomore Samantha] Stephens was a 90 minute player last year as well.
"They are very good at communicating with each other and Taylor is always ready when called upon to make a big save."
Hays figures to be busy once again on Saturday as the Lady Senators come to town with an offense that is averaging 2.53 goals per game, the third-best average in the SSAC. Amber Elam, who scored on Shorter in the first meeting between the teams in August, leads Auburn-Montgomery with 11 goals on the year.
While the Lady Hawks should be familiar with AUM, Colley knows that her team will have to be at its best if it hopes to secure a spot in the SSAC semifinals in Gulfport, Miss., next week.
"AUM is a very physical and experienced team," said Colley. "They have speed up top and a great physical presence in the midfield. All season we have created great opportunities to score, but have struggled a bit at putting the ball in the net. This will be key for us on Saturday.
"We will need to remain poised on the ball and finish when the chances arise. Matching AUM's physical play is a necessity."
