Confidence can make or break a team, and, after struggling for much of the season, the Pennsylvania College of Technology women's soccer team heads into Wednesday's Pennsylvania Collegiate Athletic Association playoff at 5 p.m. at Penn State Abington finally playing up to its potential.
"I didn't have much confidence in them until Monday night when we beat Luzerne Community College, 2-0," said Wildcat coach Dan Hibbs. "The girls really looked good, they knocked the ball around, they looked in shape. Everybody was playing well, they just had fun out there, they played a hard match."
During regular-season outings against Penn State Abington, the teams battled to a 1-1 draw in their first meeting and Abington won the second match 4-0.
"I think we can do a lot better against Abington. . . .Scoring will be the key. Our defense can keep their score down," Hibbs said of his team, which is 2-5-1 overall and was 2-3-1 in Eastern Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference action.
In recent matches, Penn College has been bolstered by the addition of Yvonne Bowman, who played high school soccer at Hatfield.
"She likes to play and she could be one of the better players, but she hasn't played in two years. You can tell she's an asset and, each game, she gets better," Hibbs said.
"I'm looking forward (to playing Abington)," the coach added.
The winner Wednesday advances to Saturday's PCAA championship game at a time and site to be announced.