Winning is always fun. Just ask the women’s soccer team.

After starting off the season 1-1 and only mustering one goal between the two games, the team’s offense exploded, scoring 16 goals in three wins last week.

Their first win came against Otterbein in a dominant 7-1 victory.

Liz Gilbert ‘22 led the way in that one, scoring her first career goal in the 49th minute, and later adding a second. Maggie Armstrong ‘19 also added 2 goals in what was the beginning of a very strong week for her.

The next game ended with a clean sheet for goalkeeper Patil Tcholakian ‘22 in a 4-0 win over Buffalo State. Her strong play in goal has been huge for the team early on in the season.

The team then went out with a bang on Sunday, topping Shenandoah 5-2 in an exciting match.

After going down 1-0 after an early Shenandoah goal, Denison responded with five unanswered, including three from Armstrong to give her five goals for the week.

She scored one with her foot and two with her head. The two headers came off of corner kicks sent into the box by Riley Hammond ‘20.

As pretty as those headers were, the most beautiful strike of the day came from Sydney Ludes ‘22. She found her way to the right side of the box and bent a beautiful shot around the keeper into the bottom left corner. It was her first career goal.

Armstrong’s hat trick was only a piece of the offensive attack. According to Madison Smith ‘19, it’s the mental game and strong practices that helped give them such a push.

“I think our mindset going into the games is what leads to such a strong offensive attack. How we practice is how we play in games, so having really organized and energized practices have been really key in our success.”

The additions of the freshmen Tcholakian, Gilbert and others have been a big part of the team’s early success.

“Our freshmen have been awesome. It’s been really cool to watch how impactful they can be. Whether they are starting or coming off the bench they make a strong impact in the game. It makes it very difficult for other teams to defend us when we have so many shooters.”

Rivalry games are always fun, and Smith agrees.

“I am really looking forward to conference play and to see how our team holds up against some of our rivals.”

The team is back in action on Saturday, September 15 at 1 p.m. at home against Centre.