QUAKERS ADVANCE
November 2, 2012
Earlham College Broadcast SportsRICHMOND, Ind. — It's now time for step two.
The first step for the Earlham College women's soccer team was winning the opening
match of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament on Thursday, which
the Quakers did with a 2-0 decision over Manchester University on Matlack Field.
“Winning this game is a step," Earlham Head Coach Shane Meridith said. "We’re not
celebrating and we’re not going out dancing."
"This was the step before the final," Meridith continued. "We want to win that
championship and we’ve talked about that since August 16.”
Ranked at No. 7 in the latest National Soccer Coaches of America
Association/Continental Tire NCAA Division III Women's Great Lakes Poll, the
top-seeded Quakers advance to Saturday's HCAC Tournament Championship match at 1
p.m.
Earlham (12-5-1) entertains Transylvania University (12-5-1) after the Pioneers beat
Hanover College in penalty kicks during the other semifinal match on Thursday night.
After a scoreless first period with the Spartans (9-7-3) on Thursday, the Quakers
picked up both goals in the second half.
“Manchester is a good team," Meridith said. "They’re organized and they have some
really good players. We knew that going in."
"We’ve got to do a better job controlling the tempo of the game and we did that in
the first 23 minutes," Meridith added. "Then we kind of started to get a little too
direct, a little bit impatient. We’ve got to get away from that and share the ball
more.”
Early in the second stanza, the Quakers took a 1-0 advantage when Ikumi Doucette
found the back of the net for her 12th goal of the season after a pass from Gia
Casaburo at 48:57.
Joy Doucette sealed the victory with an unassisted score at 81:27. It was her 11th
goal of the fall.
“I’m happy to be moving on to Saturday.” Meridith said. “Transylvania advanced two
years ago, Hanover advanced last year," Meridith said. "Hopefully, it’ll be us this
year.”
The Quakers led 15-10 in shots and 4-1 in corner kicks.
Earlham goalkeeper A.J. Johnson had four saves for the Quakers.
