Gettysburg's Women’s Soccer Sets Sights High for 2015 Season

Photo Credit: David Sinclair, Gettysburg College

Returning after their most successful season in program history, the Gettysburg women’s soccer team has their sights set high for the 2015 season. With six returning starters, eighteen returning letterwinners and fifteen fresh first-year players, the Bullets are determined to improve their game and take down the competition.

Last season, the Bullets finished 13-4-2 overall and posted an undefeated (9-0-1) record in Centennial Conference play. Sliding into first place in conference standings, Gettysburg earned the right to host last season’s conference tournament. The accolades don’t stop there either, as the team also captured their first national ranking in 10 years at No. 19 and an at-large bid for the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Gettysburg has now qualified for the Centennial Conference playoffs in five consecutive seasons, and ninth-year head coach and 2014 Centennial Conference Coach of the Year Matt Garrett is preparing this year’s Bullets for the same model of success.

“I am excited about this new team which is very young and has a great deal of potential. We are starting a new process with a new group after losing a lot of starters and all conference and regional players in the last 2 years and with a very tough schedule,” shared coach Garrett. “Every year are goals are to compete for a conference title, be regionally ranked, make the NCAA, and improve from the previous year.”

Returning to the field for the Bullets, is senior goalie Eliza Gray. Gray finished last season allowing only two goals to escape her clutch in Centennial Conference regular-season play. Gray registered a 0.796 save percentage to go with 10 shutouts, earning herself First Team All-Centennial Conference, First Team NSCAA Division III All-Mid-Atlantic Region, and Third Team NSCAAA Division III All-American recognition.

Gray isn’t alone in the net this season though. First-years  Kelliann Bolash and Kiera Loftus will debut their skills and vie for time in the net.

Also on the back field this season will be senior Caitlin DiGiacomo, junior Carly Cobbol, and sophomore Gillian Sencindiver. DiGiacomo returns with a Second Team All-CC status in her second year as a starter. Playing in 16 matches last season and starting in the final 10 games, Sencindiver will also return as a starting defender. Likewise returning as starting defender, Cobbol returns after playing in every match and starting in nine games with one assist.

Juniors Maddie Brown and Courtney Long and sophomores Haley Brazier and Aoife Schanche will also join the Bullets defense. Schanche will be a player to watch, as she joins this season as a transfer from Division I Drexel University.

First-years Taylor Buckley, Gabby Kase, Annie McNamara, Stefany Soltesz, and Skye Speciale will also add their skills to the Bullets’ defense this year, as they transfer their skills to the college level.

On the forward line, the Bullets will return their leading scorer from 2014, senior Lauren Schapiro. Senior Melissa Seidner and sophomores Maddie Heaney and Jessica Cuttone will join Schapiro on the offensive front, bringing a variety of skills and tricks from last year.

First-years Samantha Esposito, Danielle DeMichael, Alexa Soltesz, and Daisy Sullivan will round out the Bullets’ offense.

Contending for playing time as either forwards or midfielders, junior Hannah Theurer and sophomores Krissy Bradley and Jordan Stefanacci return as significant offensive contributors. Theurer played in 18 matches with 10 starts, one goal and one assist. Bradley hit the field in 19 matches with one start. Stefancci scored one goal in her six matches on the pitch.

Junior Julia Ramsey and sophomores Shannon Brady, Nicole Crofton, and Taylor Atlas will hit the field as returning midfielders eager to build on their skills from last season.

Rounding out the team will be first-years Alexa Bushey, Paige Heiden, Lauren Miesemer, and Virginia Sanford, who will all contend for time as midfielders.

In their season opener on September 1st, the Bullets showed their potential for the season by tying with ninth-ranked College of New Jersey. The Bullets will hit the field for their home opener on September 5th when they face Hiram College at 7 p.m.

Information compiled from Gettysburg College Sports (http://www.gettysburgsports.com/index.aspx?path=wsoc&&tab=1) and in person interviews.