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LISA PURDY -- The Flat Hat
Sophomore midfielder Tara Flint dribbles the ball upfield. Flint was named CAA player of the year. She leads the Tribe in goals, with eight.
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Soccer wins CAAs, 2-1
Flint named CAA Player of the Year for efforts
By Arista Salimi
Flat Hat Staff Writer
The women's soccer team crushed James Madison University 2-1 Sunday, winning their sixth CAA tournament title in a row.
The Tribe women won the match in the 75th minute, when sophomore midfielder Lindsey Vanderspiegel shot the ball into the top left corner of the net from 15 yards away. Vanderspiegel's contributions resulted in game MVP honors.
The honor came just after she was named a member of the All-CAA first team, along with senior teammate Tara Flint. Flint was named 2001 CAA player of the year for this season's efforts, which include a team-high eight goals.
Four Tribe athletes were named as second-team members, including senior forward Janet Sury, junior midfielder Franny Swajkoski, senior forward Jordan Krieger and junior midfielder Lara Pawlow.
The JMU Dukes scored a point after only one minute, 19 seconds of play when a Tribe player accidentally deflected the ball into her own net. This mistake did not hinder the W&M women for too long, however. Thirteen minutes later, Vanderspiegel assisted sophomore back Kim Stokes in scoring the Tribe's first goal. Vanderspiegel's shot bounced from the top of the crossbar and then fell to Stokes, who headed it into the net. There were no defenders from JMU in the way, giving Stokes a clear opportunity to score.
The score stayed tied at one until Vanderspiegel's powerful game-winning kick into the net. Vanderspiegel was assisted by junior teammate Franny Swajkoski on the second goal.
The Tribe was defeated by JMU one week earlier. The score of that game was also 2-1.
The CAA Tournament win against JMU gives Tribe women's soccer an automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament. Out of their 17 total appearances in the NCAA Tournament, this will be the 10th consecutive appearance by Tribe women's soccer.
"Franny Swajkoski, Tara Flint and Lindsey Vanderspiegel all dominated the midfield," Head Coach John Daly said. "They played together very well. It became important to link up and create chances on the field. Jordan Krieger also did very well. She just needed breaks, and got them. I think this helped her to regain her confidence."
Indeed, Krieger did seem more confident. She was optimistic about the first round of the NCAA tournament, which will take place today, when the team plays Wake Forest University at the University of Virginia.
"I think it will go well," Krieger said. "They seem like a good match, although we have never played them. But I like it that way. I like not knowing what their strengths and weaknesses are and seeing them try to figure us out."
Krieger was happy with the way the team played against JMU for the CAA Tournament title.
"It was a little disappointing when they scored on us so early, but we kept working together," she said. "Going into the game, we were pretty positive, even though they had beaten us the week before. Nobody was scared of them."
Since the NCAA tournament pairings were not posted at the time, Daly said that he could not yet speculate on how the Tribe would do at the tournament. He only said that he hoped some members of the team would recover from slight injuries, including one to senior goalkeeper Courtney Owen.
Today the Tribe (10-8-1) will play Wake Forest (9-8-2) in their first round of the NCAA tournament this season.
If the Tribe succeeds, they will go on to play the winner of the UVa. vs. Liberty University match.
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