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BY TIMOTHY BERNSTEIN

In print | Published September 24, 2009 — Updated October 07, 2009 17:15

No longer undefeated? No problem.

Coming off their first loss of the season, the #20 Garnet women’s soccer team rebounded with a 1-0 win against 25th-ranked Dickinson College (6-1, 0-1 CC) on Saturday. It was the first Centennial Conference matchup of the season for both teams, and a memorable one at that.

Saturday’s game at Clothier came with an element of history. With the Garnet (6-1, 1-0 CC) ranked 15th in the country, it was the first time in the history of the conference that two nationally ranked teams played each other in women’s soccer. The fact that it was played on a beautiful Saturday afternoon didn’t hurt, especially for the 300-plus spectators who came out to support the Garnet in person.

In what quickly proved to be a defensive battle, the lone offensive strike was provided by Garnet forward Hannah Deming ’12, who took a rebound off of Dickinson keeper Kailyn Hartmann and hit the net for a 1-0 lead that stood until the final whistle.

The Garnet, who had been defeated 2-0 by The College of New Jersey just three days beforehand, improved to 6-1 on the season with the victory. The fast start, coupled with early intra-conference success, is a great sign for a team that had four ties against conference opponents last year and whose conference run last season came to a devastating end to none other than Dickinson in a 2-1 loss, despite having beaten the Red Devils in the regular season. All of that, however, is stored in the past a little more easily with this latest victory.

Still, members of the team saw room for improvement.

“I was happy we came away with a win, but there’s still much work to be done in preparation for the rest of the season,” defender Laura Bolger ’11 said. “The quality of our play could have been more consistent throughout the match.”

“There were times when we were playing really hard, and times [when] I know we could have played better,” defender Cassie Strawser ’13 said. “Overall, it was a good win for us. This win was really important for us because it was our first conference game, and we needed a strong win to put us on the right path for the rest of the season.”

It is hard to find fault with the Garnet defense, however. Led by keeper Marie Mutryn ’12, who had six saves, Swarthmore completely neutralized an aggressive Dickinson attack.

Two particularly sterling highlights bookended the game: with Dickinson attacking on an empty net early in the first half, defender Hannah Purkey ’11 had a clutch steal to keep the game scoreless; later, nursing the slim lead, Mutryn’s save from inside the six ensured a Swarthmore victory in the conference opener.

Mutryn was honored by the Centennial Conference as the Defensive Player of the Week for her efforts in the shutout.

Dickinson, for their part, took more than twice as many shots on the goal as the Garnet, who had only seven to their opponents’ 16. The Red Devils, however, didn’t convert once. Swarthmore had four shots, split evenly between Deming and her fellow forward Julia Luongo ’10.

In their loss Wednesday, the opposing team had the same number of shots on goal as Dickinson, but managed to score two goals. Here, Mutryn and the Garnet defense came through when it counted.

According to Strawser, however, the reasons for the victory go beyond measurable statistics. She cited “continued communication and effort on the field” and “being first to every ball” as key components to the victory.

So far, Swarthmore is showing that it can win in a variety of ways, with victories coming by way of 6-1 blowouts and 1-0 overtime squeakers. This is an encouraging sign as the thick of the Centennial Conference season approaches.

The women will take on Widener (7-0-1) tonight at 7 p.m. in the latest installment of the so-called “320 Challenge” between the Garnet and the local rivals. The series is currently tied with one win apiece (the men’s soccer team defeated the Pride by a score of 4-0 on Sept. 16, while the field hockey team fell to Widener in a 4-1 decision on Sept. 5).

Conference play will resume at Clothier Field on Saturday as the women’s soccer team plays defending champions #12 Johns Hopkins (5-2, 1-0 CC) with the hope of avenging a 1-0 loss last September. Start time is slated for 3 p.m

Disclosure Note: Sports Columnist Hannah Purkey is a member of the women’s soccer team but had no role in the production of this article.

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