The Elizabethtown men and women’s soccer teams both had away matches on Sept. 13, seeing the women tie 0-0 and the men fall 0-1. 

On the women’s side, the Lady Jays traveled to Stevenson University to take on the Mustangs. In the first half, Etown was able to hold possession of the ball for the majority, but had limited goal action against Stevenson goalie first-yearIsabella Serano. 

Etown attempted six total shots and two on goal versus Serano, but none were able to make it into the goal. Etown sophomore goalie Ella Smith made two saves in the first half. For the second half, Smith was able to make four more saves, preventing Stevenson from getting points on the board. 

In the 87th minute, senior Jenna Hoffman worked the ball to the right wing to then pass to sophomore Kayla Myer. Myer was able to cut to the middle of the field and square the ball back to Hoffman, who would attempt a shot on goal. The shot hit the crossbar and bounced back to the top of the box. The follow up would then be saved by Serano. 

Senior captain Olivia Herbert saw a positive improvement in the team’s ability to stay strong throughout the game. “A positive from today would be keeping a clean sheet and getting quality opportunities offensively,” she said. “We started strong and kept the momentum through all 90 minutes.”

Something the team hopes to continue to improve throughout the season is staying healthy and finishing attempts. “We’re going to work on finishing the ball because we do everything right to get to the goal, we just need to finish the ball,” junior Sophie Shadle said. 

On the men’s side, Etown fell to the Franklin and Marshall College Diplomats in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. With early ball action, the Diplomats held control of the first half and were able to score the game’s only goal. Etown would have two total shots in the first half, but would be able to find better grounding in the second half. 

The Etown men tried to tie the game on multiple occasions in the second half. Senior Jude Ashley would be inches from the goal twice, but one would hit the crossbar and the other would be saved by Diplomat goalie first-year Diego Moreno. 

With this loss, Franklin and Marshall reclaimed the Smith-Herr Boot and will hold the title until next year’s game. 

Both the men’s and women’s teams will start Landmark Conference play on Sept.  27 against Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.