Gators Assume Spoiler Role in 2006

Dec 5, 2006

Denied a trip to the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament, the Allegheny College women’s soccer team made its presence felt in the race for the league championship by spoiling not just one team’s chances at the title, but two in the final week of the regular season. The Gators posted their 11th consecutive winning season with an overall record of 10-7-1 this fall, including 3-4-1 in the NCAC.

After starting the season with back-to-back losses against steep competition at the Nazareth Tournament, Allegheny reeled off six consecutive wins against non-league competition. The stretch came to an unfortunate end with losses in three of the next four contests, including a pair of one-goal, overtime losses to Carnegie Mellon University (2-1) and Kenyon College (2-1). The Blue and Gold rebounded with dominating wins over Hiram College (5-0) and Earlham College (2-0) before disappointing losses to Oberlin College (0-2) and Ohio Wesleyan University (2-5) eliminated the team from the postseason.

Despite being knocked out of the NCAC Tournament for the second straight year, Allegheny made the most of the impact it could make by keeping The College of Wooster and Wittenberg University from capturing the regular season title. The Gators easily disposed of the Fighting Scots on the road 3-0, before denying the Tigers in their bid for the championship with a 0-0 tie.

All nine of Allegheny’s top scorers were underclassmen this fall, including junior Ashley Hughes (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) and sophomores Christy McShea (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) and Katie Murphy (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township). Both McShea and Murphy landed on the All-NCAC Second Team after finishing first and tied for second on the squad with 21 and 16 points, respectively, while Hughes picked up honorable mention accolades with seven goals and two assists. Noteworthy, the Gators were 9-0 when McShea scored a goal in 2006.

A pair of senior defenders also notched all-league honors for Allegheny. Robin Bunch (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) earned a slot on the honorable mention squad for the second year in a row, while Emily Spencer (Evergreen, Colo./Evergreen) was named to the second team. As leaders of the defensive unit, Bunch and Spencer helped the Gators post a 1.08 goals against average and hold opponents to just 11.7 shots per game.

Allegheny also received timely contributions from other players as well. Junior Jillian Bolton (Hilton, N.Y./Hilton Central) led the team with five assists and totaled nine points overall, while junior midfielder Rebecca Rotoloni (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) was one of just four players to start all 18 games this fall, picking up one goal and two assists. First-year goalie Michelle Welker (Clearfield, Pa./Clearfield) missed the first two games of the season, but returned with a flurry, posting a 0.91 goals against average, .848 save percentage, and tying a school single-season mark with eight solo shutouts.

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