At this point last year, the women’s soccer team was sitting on a 5-3-1 record. Although its current record (5-2-3) is slightly better, junior forward Kelly Waeckerle said it doesn’t tell the whole story.

“Every season I play gets better and better,” she said. “I’m feeling good about this season more so than previous ones because we’ve beaten some solid teams. Hopefully we can continue our momentum.”

Part of the team’s success this season is due to its goalie, freshman Hannah Perry, who has shut out five of the team’s ten opponents this year.

“It’s not all on me,” Perry said. “Our defense has done a good job. They’ve done a lot to keep the other teams from scoring.”

Senior back Lauren Olson has not only made her mark defensively, leading Saint Louis University in the back, but she has also notched two goals off penalty kicks.

“We are playing really well defensively which is a good thing, because we are not scoring a lot of goals,” head coach Tim Champion said, describing the team’s record. “We are waiting for injuries to work out . once we get healthier we will start scoring more goals.”

The injuries Champion is referring to are junior forward Julia Bradenberg and junior midfielder Susan Frederickson. Bradenberg’s injury came against Northwestern on Sept. 21, while Frederickson fell in the Duquesne match on Sept. 26, and broke her wrist.

“We will have to work around it and put someone up top to score,” Champion said about upcoming games while Bradenberg’s injury heals.

From Sept. 19 to 21, the team added a win and a tie to its record, when SLU beat Toledo 2-1 and tied Northwestern 0-0.

“We had a lot of opportunities against Toledo,” Champion said. “It was a chance to work out defensive things.

“The game against Northwestern was a very hard, physical game, and there were not a lot of chances. The team was tired because they had already played that weekend.”

Now the Billikens are 1-1 after their first conference weekend. It wasn’t the result the team expected, but the team had to battle injuries, a long traveling day to the Bronx, N.Y., and unfavorable weather conditions.

“These two teams [Duquesne and Fordham] were in the top four last year in the conference,” Champion said. It was a good indication of where we are and what we need to work on.”

On Sept. 26 the Bills achieved a 1-0 victory over Duquesne, with the only goal coming off a penalty kick by Olson. However, the Fordham game Sept. 28, ended in a 2-0 loss.

The team’s next game will be on Oct. 4 against Charlotte in North Carolina.