By MATT MEYERS
Staff Writer
 

When one thinks of national rankings, the names that usually come to mind are the Michigan Wolverines, North Carolina Tarheels, and the UCLA Bruins. The Bates Bobcats, on the other hand, are not usually mentioned in the same breath. However, when the Division III women's soccer rankings came out on September 14, the Bates Bobcats were right there at number 21 in the entire country. Unfortunately, as we all know, what goes up must come down. Two days after the rankings were made official, the Bobcats lost to Wellesley by a score of 2-0. They followed that up with a lackluster 5-0 shellacking at the hands of Middlebury. Fortunately, Bates was unable to salvage a little pride with a 3-0 victory over a mediocre University of New England squad in the rain on September 22.

The season began on a positive note with a 3-1 whitewash of Norwich. Bates took the early 1-0 lead and after relinquishing it

early in the second half they picked up two goals late to pick up the

victory. However, the 3-1 final was not a good indication of the way the game was played. Bates dominated play but kept letting Norwich off the hook by not capitalizing on their many scoring opportunities.

Missed opportunities would be a recurring theme through their next two defeats.

The Wellesley loss is one that would fall into the frustrating category. The women from Bates could not seem to figure out Wellesley's goalkeeper and they were unable to make up the twogoal deficit.

The Middlebury game, however, had many more negative components besides just the missed chances. As Coach Jim Murphy put it, "Middlebury just had more speed and quickness." This was apparent to everyone present at Lafayette Field last weekend as Middlebury took a 5-0 first-half lead.

"Middlebury had a hot keeper," said Coach Murphy "but we have to get better at finishing our chances. We try it in practice, but it is hard to simulate game speed and situations."

Unfortunately for the Bobcats, missed chances were not their only problem. They looked lost for the first forty-five minutes as the Panthers picked them apart with ease. "I was not surprised by their

level of play, but I was surprised by our lack of intensity," said Captain Suzie Arnold '99.

Bates had a couple of opportunities to make it respectable in the second half but continued to fail on open chances. In fact,

Middlebury ended up outshooting Bates by only a 19-18 margin.

Luckily for Bates, they were able to lift their spirits the following Tuesday with a game against U.N.E. Obviously overwhelmed, the Bates women took it to U.N.E. and easily defeated them 3-0. The schedule only gets tougher for the Cats though, they must travel to Hartford to play Trinity on Saturday. Not only is Trinity a tough opponent, but it is also their parents weekend and, as Coach Murphy put it, "Everyone wants to look good in front of their parents."

The Bates women have a tough road ahead of them. Their upcoming schedule features mostly NESCAC teams and, as we have learned through the first four games of the season, it is stiff competition. After all, this conference sent five teams to last season's NCAA tournament. Says Arnold, "We hope to rebound against Trinity and get a much needed NESCAC victory."

Hopefully the women from Bates will be able to build off of these early season losses. "In order to turn it around," remarked senior fullback and captain Julie Lundman '99, "we need to start playing with heart, we need to post some shut-outs, and we need to start taking advantage of opportunties." There must be some talent on the team if someone thought they deserved a national ranking. However, that ranking is not particularly significant in the middle of September. When informed a week later that his team had in fact received a national ranking, Coach Murphy responded by saying that "the one at the end is the only one that matters."