First Snow of the Year Doesn’t Faze Clippers’ Women’s Soccer
Purchase, NY – The Concordia College Clippers women's soccer team were ready to play in their final match of the season this afternoon as they were to host Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) opponent Bloomfield College. Mother Nature would have a different say in today's outcome but nonetheless, both teams were making the best of it and had a little fun too.
Once arriving to the turf field at SUNY Purchase, it looked as if the game would be interesting for both teams. A light dusting on the field turned into two inches of "the sticky stuff" just minutes before the start of the game. Even with the ball sticking to the snow during warm-ups, Concordia was ready to play no matter the conditions to earn their first conference win of the season.
At kickoff, both sides soon realized that their strategy would have to change for today's game. An aerial attack would do no good on a day like this and both teams realized that short quick passes would be the only away to attack the storm.
On both teams, all the players had smiles on their faces and were laughing when they attempted a 10 yard pass that would only roll five feet in the quickly accumulating snow. One shot taken at the top of the 18-yard box by Bloomfield stopped feet in front of Clippers' goalkeeper Jessica Nanan (Queens, NY) and the ball was now three times the size. This was not what both teams had in mind when they were preparing in yesterday's practice.
After the first five minutes of play, both sides realized that this was still a soccer game and it was time to get serious. Iyesha Ollivierre (Trinidad & Tobago) had two great shot opportunities for Concordia after making a run from midfield in the snow to only have them stopped by the Deacons' goalkeeper.
With no letup in sight, the officials soon called the match claiming the conditions were not fit for play. Only 13 minutes had elapsed but both teams still wanted to continue the game. They made the necessary changes to their style of play knowing, for some, that playing soccer in the snow would be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Even for the three seniors on the Clippers who were on the field for the last time in their career.
With the cancellation of the game, the seniors and the rest of the Concordia squad (2-13, 0-11 CACC) will have another opportunity to get the game in with Bloomfield at a date to be determined. The time and directions will be found at the Clippers' women's soccer schedule on ConcordiaClippers.com once the decision has been made.
