Written by Jessica Ardrey
When some people think about soccer, they think about a sport they played as a child, complete with juiceboxes from mom after each match.Well ladies and gentlemen, this is not your average kindergarten soccer.The Lady Bisons spent this past weekend in Pensacola, Fla., at the Gulf South Conference. They fell to West Florida, who was ranked No. 1 in the tournament, 5-0 in the first round, ending their season. West Florida went on to win the tournament.”West Florida won 16 straight games, and they are one of the hottest teams in NCAA Division II,” head coach Gregory Harris said. “We lost, but we played as hard as we could.”The team was led by nine seniors, captain Hayley Withrow, captain Shayna Nail, Paola Eusse, Brianna Meek, Hannah Douglas, Chelsea Hornbeck, Hagen Atkins, Meghan Przeczewski and Sabrina Burch.They were freshmen the last time the Lady Bisons went to the GSC tournament, which made returning to tourney a priority.”The ladies battled with a lot of heart and passion over the last few weeks of the season to get us back to the tournament in Pensacola,” Harris said.As a result of this hard work, forward Paola Eusse and midfielder Haley Withrow received second team All-GSC honors. Forward Adriana Lucar was also named Freshman of the Year.Beginning in early August, the Lady Bisons went to work sculpting a new team. They lost three seniors from the previous year and picked up six freshmen and two transfers.”We have more leadership and a closer bond on this team,” sophomore midfielder Lauren Scharf said. “I have never been on a team that works so hard for one another and encourages one another so much on and off the field with anything: school work, stress, spiritual struggles, relationship issues, homesickness.”The season may be over, but attitudes are optimistic.”I am looking forward for the future freshmen,” Scharf said. “And I think the girls will become even closer with off season approaching in the spring.”Harris said he was still staying positive and was proud of his team.”We celebrated our season with laughs, a good dinner and a senior ice cream trip to Marble Slab,” Harris said. “It was a time to celebrate the way in which this 2010 Harding University women’s soccer team restored the name of Harding soccer.”The Lady Bisons finished the season 8-9-1, 4-2-0 in conference.
