Dickinson’s women’s soccer team, behind a 84th minute winning goal from Meg Tate ’23, topped conference foe Haverford 2-1.

Dickinson had trouble breaking down Haverford in the first half. After a lively and tight first 30 minutes, Haverford scored first. Off a nicely curled in corner kick, a deflection sent the ball into Dickinson’s goal. Dickinson tried to find their footing following the goal, but found themselves 1-0 down at the break. About the first half, Coach Zingman said, “Haverford was playing a very low pressure game, something we had yet to see so far this season. They were dropping back very low and their strikers weren’t really pressing. Quite honestly, we had some trouble adapting.”

The second half was a totally different story. Adapting during a game is very important to Coach Zingman and the second half showed why. “At halftime, we decided to take the space we were given. We pushed up the field, especially at the back, to try and give more space to our midfielders. We tried to become more attack minded after being too defensive minded in the first half.”

It worked for Dickinson, as they were able to create space for their attack minded players, leading to chances. From the start of the second half, you could see a shift. Chances starting piling up for Dickinson. The team is adept at changes and, again, you could tell. Coach Zingman said about his players, “they are great at that. I was very impressed with their ability to adapt. It is something we spend a lot of time on in practice. We practice how to play up 1-0 or trailing like we were yesterday.”

Before giving up the goal, Dickinson had never trailed in a game this season. It was the first time they had even given up a goal. But, even when Dickinson trailed, the players had a visible sense of belief and confidence. Coach Zingman said, “Yeah, it was the first time we had trailed all season. I was very interested to see how we would respond against a very good team. We talked it out during halftime and we knew we were capable of coming back. I was very impressed and proud of what the team showed in the second half.” 

In the 67th minute, Dickinson came so close as Isabela Jesse’s ’25 shot just went over the crossbar. Shortly after that, Dickinson got their first goal. There was a miscommunication between the Haverford defenders, the ball went past them, and Captain Tate was the first to react. Tate pounced and stole the ball, dribbled it, and then slid it brilliantly into the bottom right corner to tie the game. 

Dickinson had all the momentum following the goal. The bench was loud, exuberantly cheering on the team. This was a point of pride for Coach Zingman, who said, “the reaction of the girls on the sidelines jumping and screaming is what makes this team so special. Such an unselfish team who all care so deeply about the team and their teammates.”

The momentum that the Dickinson women had continued to grow, leading to more chances and more pressure on the Haverford goal. In the 83rd minute, Dickinson finally got the go ahead goal. Lexie Greene ’25 played a deep ball towards Tate, who took it well. She shielded one defender and found herself in a one on one. Tate dribbled onto her left foot, worked enough room to shoot and struck it hard and low and the goalie couldn’t keep it out. 

It was another great victory for the Red Devils, who continued their unbeaten run to start the season, raising their record to 5-0.