EWING – Whenever a team is shorthanded, or missing a big piece of the puzzle, it needs to work with what it’s got.
That was no problem for the Lions on Saturday against NJAC rival Ramapo College.
Starting without their star Forward Christine Levering, the Lions had no trouble picking where they had left off, winning by a score of 3-0 and dominating both offensively and defensively.
Photo courtesy www.tcnjathletics.com
Levering did not take the field today, despite nearing TCNJ’s all-time scoring record for women’s soccer.
“It was kind of surprising not to see Levering out there today, but we are a very close-knit group, so anyone can fit in at any time.” midfielder Elizabeth Thorsen said.
Lions’ head coach Joe Russo revealed after the game that Levering has a minor injury, and was a bit concerned with her physical health for the past few days. So, he decided to not take the risk and give her the game off.
“She’s nursing a little bit of an injury, so we didn’t feel it was necessary to push her,” Russo said. “So I think any time we could give some rest would be good and we did.”
Hannah Richmann and Julianna Bertolino helped fill in the gap, and didn’t miss a beat on offense. With five shots combined for both players, it gives more credit to the Lions showing what they can do when they are at some sort of disadvantage.
Both forwards didn’t miss a beat on defense either, contributing to the shutdown of Ramapo’s offense. The team in general only allowed one shot in total, and only surrendered two corner kicks that were both denied.
The team’s chemistry was not affected at all, exposing Ramapo’s defense and taking advantage of it on offense in general. In fact, TCNJ had 27 shots, 11 of them on goal, with 20 of them coming in the first half alone.
In addition, both forwards set up key plays and many scoring opportunities for the Lions during the game, something that Levering does all too well, week in and week out.
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