Women’s soccer team adjusting to new normal

Adam Tumino, Editor-in-Chief

The Eastern women’s soccer team returned to practice last week following the postponement of the fall 2020 season.

The season is expected to be played in the spring, and in the meantime, the Panthers will continue to work and prepare for the eventual start of the season.

Heading into this season, one of the biggest story lines is sure to be the replacement of goalkeeper Sara Teteak, who graduated in May.

Teteak was named the OVC  Defensive Player of the Year last season, becoming the first Eastern player to win that award. She finished her career ranked first in saves, matches started and minutes played.

Looking to fill the void in the net are redshirt-sophomores Daniela Bermeo and Faith Davies and freshman Lexi Prusow.

Bermeo said that she was looking forward to the competition between the goalkeepers throughout the semester.

“It’s kind of hard, you know, we’re going to have to fight for it,” she said. “But I feel like that’s going to be good for us because we’re going to have to like push each other, and that’s going to help us a lot.”

Bermeo said she was also happy to be back at practice, especially considering that there are 10 freshmen and four transfers on the roster.

“We’ll have more time to know each other,” she said. “Being able to practice now, it feels really good, especially with the new girls too.”

Bermeo also said that she was disappointed that the fall season had to be postponed, but is looking forward to playing in the spring.

“When we found out that we didn’t have a season during the fall, it was king of hard, but at least we have the opportunity to play in the spring, so that’s better than nothing,” she said.

Returning for her senior season this year is forward Pilar Barrio, who finished fourth on the team last season with 5 points and was tied for the team lead with 3 assists.

Barrio said that it felt good to be back practicing after more than five months.

“It’s really exciting to see how everything is going, starting to go back to normal and see that we can all be together and practicing again,” Barrio said. “We haven’t had this feeling since March, so it’s really exciting.”

Like Bermeo, Barrio said that she was disappointed when the season was postponed, but also saw a chance for the team to grow this semester.

“At first we didn’t like it, of course, because we were so excited to play,” she said. “But looking back at it we see a good opportunity because we’ve got a lot of new girls, so we can use this first six months to kind of get to know them, get to know the team, and I feel like we are going to have a great spring season.”

Additionally, both Bermeo and Barrio are from Spain, and had to remain on campus throughout the spring and summer semesters.

“It was hard, you know, because not being able to go back home and see your family and just being here with not a lot of people, just international kids, it was hard,” Bermeo said.

Barrio also said that it was difficulty not seeing her family, but added that it feels better to be around more people again.

“That’s why we’re so excited to be back with a lot of people, because during the summer there wasn’t a lot of people around,” she said. “Now with everyone else back, it’s great to have them.”

 

Adam Tumino can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].