Despite losing five seniors to graduation, Women’s Club Soccer President Annmarie Vuono ‘15 is looking forward to a strong 2014-2015 season where the team can be revitalized and find some new talent.

This year’s team is comprised of 23 girls, 10 of which are seniors. According to Vuono, about 50 freshman tried out for the team this fall. After a series of cuts, seven freshmen were asked to join the team.

Vuono explained that there are typically seven or eight games in the fall semester, followed by five or six in the spring semester. Thus far, the team has played against Yale University, Dartmouth College and Sacred Heart University.

The games against Yale and Dartmouth were both played on Sunday, Sept. 21. Although the team lost both games 2-0, Vuono is happy with the way that the team performed.

“We only had one practice before [the games], but we played really well. You could just tell that we got tired. It was also a tournament, so after the second game we were pretty dead,” said Vuono.

In the team’s game against Sacred Heart on Sunday, Sept. 28, the Stags fought their way to an exciting 2-1 victory in the final minute of gameplay. Both goals were scored by midfielder Liz Morena ‘15.

The women’s club soccer team has future games against schools such as Wesleyan University, University of Connecticut, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Northeastern and Boston College.

“Yale and UConn are not our most competitive games, but the teams that we strive to beat because they’re the big schools in Connecticut,” said Vuono.

When asked how the season typically goes, Vuono said that overall the team does “pretty well.”

“All the games are close but we usually lose to the big schools just because they have more of a playing pool. We usually end at about .500 [winning percentage]. We’re competitive,” said Vuono.

In terms of commitment level, club sports require less time than varsity sports, yet more than intramurals. Vuono explained that finding an area to practice in has been a challenge this semester due to the construction to the field that will be Rafferty Stadium.

“We try to get [practice in] twice a week but it’s hard [because of field availability] … Sometimes we’ll do a gym practice or we’ll go for a run, and then we’ll have a field practice,” said Vuono.

When asked what the best part of club soccer is, Vuono cited the “team camaraderie.”

“We’ve all played competitive soccer before and we know school comes first. But there’s nice commitment level that everyone agrees on. It’s just a good group of girls that we have outside of our roommates and our class friends,” Vuono said. “It’s a team.”

The women’s club soccer team has their next game this Saturday against Wesleyan.

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