Furtuna Velaj and the women’s soccer Bobcats, are beginning to put together a very nice season. On Sunday, Sept. 21, the lady Bobcats trounced the New Jersey Institute of Technology 6-0, bouncing back from a small two game losing streak.
In the 6-0 victory, Velaj ended her two game scoreless streak with an outstanding five goals. The five goals tallied Velaj’s total for the season to eight goals, placing her second in the nation in goals per game, with 1.60 per game, behind only Arkansas Pine Bluff’s Nicole Parks-Powell who has 1.67 goals per game. This is an amazing feat for an athlete to be second on the leaderboard, yet alone a freshman
However, Velaj is not the only player playing well for the Bobcats. Fellow freshman Chelsea Smith scored the Bobcat’s sixth goal in the 6-0 victory, the first goal of her career. Junior Susan Donovan leads the team with two assists, including one assist in the victory over NJIT. Three other players for the Bobcats have one assist each.
In addition to the offense, the defense has played very well as of late. In the last four games goalie Jillian Kelley and her defense have allowed only two goals. According to NCAA.com, Kelley is ranked 40th out of the top 100 goalies in the country for goals allowed per game.
The 3-2-0 Bobcats played Canisus and on Sept. 28. From here on out, the season truly begins for the Bobcats. League play starts Oct. 3 at Robert Morris. Currently, Monmouth University is in first place, with a 6-1-1 record. However, when league play starts this Friday, every team has a clean slate. Judging by the Bobcats success thus far, we have quite the season to look forward to.