MILWAUKEE – The Mount Mary University soccer season is over, and the Blue Angels finished the 2015 season at 3-17. It was a development year for MMU soccer, and as the season progressed the team's success continued to grow.
The Blue Angels started off the season 0-2 before heading across town to play rival Alverno. After finishing the previous game against Eureka with two goals, the Blue Angels were only able to get three shots on goal against Alverno. The Inferno controlled the ball and got off 11 shots on goal, four of which found their way into the net. The 4-0 loss meant Alverno was now 13-0 against the Blue Angels since MMU joined the NCAA.
After going through the bumps and bruises of the regular season, the Blue Angels continued to make small steps towards becoming a more competitive team. In mid-October the Blue Angels played Robert Morris-Lake County, those small steps finally came together for one of the most successful games of the season for MMU.
MMU outscored the Eagles 12-2, the win saw a number of season highs for the Blue Angels both as a team and as individuals. Karina Salgado (Fr./Chicago, Ill.) scored three goals with four assists for season highs in each; season highs for both her and for the whole squad in 2015. As a team, that was the highest number of goals MMU scored in any game since joining the NCAA. In fact, that was the first time the Blue Angels ever scored double digit goals in their brief NCAA history.
Following that big win, the Blue Angels had to set their focus on their next game against Finlandia. A team that beat the Blue Angels 1-0 earlier in the year. With a full and relatively healthy roster, the Blue Angels turned the tables on the Lions and finished with MMU's first shutout of the season. While Becky Onan (So./Grafton, Wis.) turned away each of the eight shots on goal, the MMU offense got a late second half goal by Ashley Pfeifer (Fr./Elkhart Lake, Wis.) to give the Blue Angels a 1-0 victory.
After the two game winning streak, the Blue Angels suffered a slew of injuries and were forced to play the next three games undermanned. Once MMU's roster healed up, the Blue Angels would host Alverno College for the regular season finale.
The game showed how far the team had come from the beginning of the season. A big turnaround game for the Blue Angels as the two teams traded possessions for the first 82 minutes. For the second time in 2015, Onan again denied all of the eight shots on goal the Inferno fired at her. Almost a mirror of the win against Finlandia, Pfeifer was setup nicely as time was winding down and fired the game winning goal making it 1-0.
The win against Alverno was the first win over the Inferno in soccer since 2005, a 19 game losing streak against their long time rival finally snapped. Head Coach Jon Gulrajani on what the win meant, "It had been a while since our last victory against them, so it is always nice to get a win over a similar program to ours. It just showed how diligent we were with improving each week. We had a nice stretch at the end where we played our best soccer as a team."
Following the regular season, the Blue Angels soccer team was invited to the Great South Athletic Conference postseason tournament. It was the first ever postseason tournament for the MMU soccer team since joining the NCAA and gave the Blue Angels a once in a lifetime opportunity. The Blue Angels lost to Salem in the first round; Salem went on to lose in the championship game to UC Santa Cruz.
Even though they lost in the first round, the Blue Angels made a splash in the GSAC. Coming away with two GSAC Player of the Week awards (Salgado and Pfeifer), two GSAC All-Academic Awards (Zecilia Alamillo-Roman and Adrianna Coronado), one GSAC All-Conference team award (Salgado), one GSAC All-Freshman team award (Salgado), and one GSAC All-Sportsmanship award (Aiko Satake).
The long season showed a lot of growth from the Blue Angels. Coach Gulrajani on his view of the season, "It takes time to change the environment but I was really happy that we laid the foundation for years to come. We were more efficient with training, environment, nutrition, technical ability, academics and overall team chemistry. The recruited players made a big difference in the overall quality, and that needs to continue for us to be successful in the future."
"I will miss the group's passion for the game and each other. Every player really put hard work into the season and always put forth great effort. Traveling brought the group together and it was fun to see true personalities come out. We competed in every match, did well in the classroom, and every player improved so much from the start of the season. Those are all great things to look back at."
Now MMU will focus their energies on the hard work needed for a successful offseason. The effort spent during those months are what will bring the Blue Angels to the next level, and that clock has already started.
As always, fans can find all the most recent news and updates at mtmaryathletics.com.
