Lorenzo Nivellini, Special to The Denisonian—
A Sept. 27 win against Otterbein College marked the end of the Denison Women’s soccer team’s non-conference portion of the season. The team finished its first nine games with a record of three wins, two losses and four ties.
Following a season in which the team made the NCAA Division III tournament and three players earned All-Ohio honors, the team has shown similar promise throughout the 2023 season. Callie Davis ‘24 has led the team’s offense along with Caroline Garrard ‘24, while Molly Noga ‘26 has been active in goal.
Head coach Sarah Brink said she has been reforming the team’s tactics to favor more ball movement and a steady flow of offense, although, with three clean sheets and only conceding more than once in a single game, defense has not been sacrificed.
This new approach might have been best exemplified in the season opener, where the Big Red bombarded Alma College with shots and managed a tough away win. Despite this, the season has had its share of challenges.
After going 2-0-1 in their first 3 games, Denison failed to capitalize on a four-game home stand, tying three games straight, and also lost the two games following that, despite showing strong offensive prowess in their 4-1 loss to Trine University.
Denison kicked off its North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) schedule with a Oct. 7 4-0 victory over rival Kenyon College. Ahead of the game, players Kendall Sierens ‘26, Molly Noga ‘26, and Assistant Coach Dr. Veerendra Lele spoke about the season so far.
Q: Since the hiring of coach Brink, what are the biggest changes that you’ve seen in your team’s strategy, and, Dr. Lele, has your role changed at all?
Kendall: We’ve achieved a lot of new things, whether it be culture-based or just the way we play. With a new coach comes lots of other new things, and we were looking forward to a change in pace. It’s been good to have new things to experience and, with our culture, we’ve adapted to stuff pretty good this year, but, also, if it isn’t working, we also have an open mind to change.
Molly: Coach Brink has done a good job with keeping it super competitive and high-energy while also keeping in the fun factor. We’ve done a lot of team culture talks, activities and that’s been really beneficial for us, and also something that’s new in a way. That’s the biggest changed on that in my perspective. I also think we just take everything one day at a time, one game at a time, and that’s super helpful when you have a super compact season; that’s sort of part of our culture and values.
Dr. Lele: I agree. The culture of the team is strong and growing. As Molly said, it’s fun, and it should be fun. When athletes enjoy what they’re doing, they’re happier and improve faster. The opponent puts you under stress, so having an environment when people aren’t stressed out with their own team is just helpful because that’s the opponent’s job. So, I think the culture of the team is really good.
There’s a healthy respect for each other and for Coach Brink, and her perspective on focusing on making that a key part of her mission, and the team’s mission, collectively, has been really great to see.
Q: Before this win against Otterbein, you had a string of 5 straight winless games. What do think caused this, and what did you do to successfully bounce back from that?
Kendall: It was a mix of one game after the other–I think we played 4 games in an 8-day span–and we were also playing with a different formation at first–4-4-2. Now, we’re playing a 4-3-3, so I think that adjustment has helped us attack wise, and, looking back at those games, we put a lot of energy into creating a dynamic attacking style, looking for new ways to create opportunities. We did tie, they were pretty low-scoring games, so just wanting to get on the scoresheet and win more games.
Molly: Kendall said it pretty well. We’re trying to develop into a more dynamic, attacking style, and that also goes back to what we were saying to answer the first question; because we’re open-minded and more willing to change if something’s not working, you can see that working through the change in formation, and it’s also kind of cool cause she’s a striker and I’m a goalie so you’re getting it from both ends. If there are consistent ties a lot of people blame the offense because they aren’t scoring but it’s as much of the defense’s job as it is the offense’s.
Dr. Lele: The players said it best. They see the game internally in a way us coaches don’t see it. I think for us coaches, Molly said it during halftime of one of the games; the team is really resilient. They compete for the full 90 minutes regardless of what it says on the scoreboard. When there’s a reservoir of resiliency that you can draw from, that’s something that all of us can see. [Apart from] that one loss, if you look at our record defensively, we’ve been really strong. [Molly] is the first one with the ball in her hands, so it starts with her, so we build from the back, we have a really strong defense, we’re building stronger in the midfield and the attack, trying to score more goals, create chances, finishing chances, so I’m very optimistic for how the next part of the season is going to go.
Q: You mentioned that you have been solid defensively so far this season. As a matter of fact, Molly has kept three clean sheets so far. What role has the defense played in that, and how do you plan to continue that with a more offensively oriented formation?
Molly: From the start, it’s a game of confidence. You cannot question your ability or the ability of your defenders, and you have to trust each other. Regardless of who’s playing, soccer is such a dynamic game that it doesn’t matter; everyone on the team is capable of starting and playing well, so it’s just a lot of trust that we have in each other and good communication throughout the game, but that all has to stem from initial confidence until the very last second.
Kendall: I also think that our two center backs (Kate Dalimonte ‘25 and Sarah Sollinger ‘26) have been really helpful in the way that they communicate. I’ve played two seasons now and I know how they play, where they’ll run to and what balls they’re going to play me. I think they’re a front in the back, as well as Molly. They’re all super communicative–Coach Brink always wants us to talk, talk, talk, which is very important because they see the field better than we do.
Dr. Lele: There’s really good communication among our defensive group. It starts with Molly, and then our two center backs link really well together, and our outside backs are always in communication with our near center backs and in conversation with the midfielders. We think of the defense as its own unit–sometimes we’ll do training exercises where our defense is working together–but whoever’s playing the midfield,–they’re communicating with the defenders as well. The wingers are part of that as well [because] they’re communicating with the outside backs. That communication allows the defensive work to occur. I can’t stress enough that, when it comes to defense, everyone has to be on the same page. It’s a common project–defense is a common project.
Q: Last season you guys won the NCAC championship, qualifying you for the NCAA DIII tournament, and also had three players named to the All-Ohio team. What are your goals for the remainder of this season?
Kendall: The very first week of preseason, when we were talking about or goals for this season, obviously we wanted to win the NCAC again, make it to NCAA, go farther, but, we don’t have control on the outcomes of everything, so we have to go into every game and do our best, and hopefully the results will follow. I think that’s something that’s been on everyone’s mind since day 1. One of the goals is just to do it again.
Q: Having replaced (Wynne Hague ‘25) in goal this season, in what ways has she helped you to do as well as you have this season, with three clean sheets, a 71% save percentage, etc.?
Molly: A goalie is unlike any other position on the field, specifically when you’re working with another keeper, but you’re working very closely with them all the time. –Whether one goalie is playing all the minutes and the other is playing the field, or they’re splitting halves, that bond doesn’t falter, and that holds true regardless of the situation. Knowing I can depend on Wynne, and depend on the whole team in general, has helped me keep a level head and avoid nerves. When I get on the field, I know I have Wynne and everyone else holding me up.
Q: Dr. Lele, you have a rich background in education, writing, research and teaching. How do you think that prepared you for your role as assistant coach and how have you managed to balance these things with coaching and instruction here?
Dr. Lele: I’ve been a professor for a long time at Denison, and I’m very fortunate to be a professor at Denison. It’s a great college. Even in the 20 years I’ve been here, it’s grown by leaps and bounds and the students we have are fantastic, and I’m not just saying that because two of them are sitting here. I know I’m very fortunate to be a professor at Denison and I don’t take that for granted at all. The experience I’ve had as an academic professor has helped me be one of the coaches. I think of coaching as teaching, as all coaches do. Denison is not unique, but we’re one of the schools where our head coaches are also professors. That’s not true everywhere; certainly not at Division I schools everywhere, or even Division III schools everywhere. I coached for a while, I was a referee for ten years, played for most of my life, so all that has helped me appreciate what these student-athletes do. I can’t say enough about this group of folks. I was at an event with one of the team members last night, and I tell them all the time it’s the best part of my day. I don’t mean that in a hyperbolic way. It is the best part of my day; it’s just affirmation of a sport I love.