On the offensive

Carley Dubbert has taken over the scoring responsibilities for Ferris soccer

Junior defender Carley Dubbert breaks free from defenders. Dubbert currently leads the women’s soccer team in scoring. Photo by: Kaitlyn Kirchner | Torch Photographer

Ferris State women’s soccer has had a nice early start against their Great Lakes Intercollegiate Conference (GLIAC) competition, and leading the scoring charge for the Dawgs has been junior defender Carley Dubbert. 

Though she’s listed as a defender, Dubbert has been getting a lot of reps at the forward position, allowing her to amass a team high six total goals as they stroll into the October portion of the season. 

Starting 2-1 against GLIAC competition this year through their first three league games, as opposed to last year’s 0-2-1 league start through the same amount of games, is a beginning to the positive change that the Bulldogs would like to see. The early league wins, according to Dubbert, are just steps on the path to an even bigger team goal. 

“One of my big goals for the team is to make it to the NCAA Tournament and win the GLIAC, we want a ring,” Dubbert said. “I want to help my team get to the next level and work to have the best season in Ferris State women’s soccer history.” 

On a team with an abundance of freshmen and only seven seniors, it’s important for somebody to be able to step up and set an example. 

“We are a very young team with fifteen freshmen so we have been working to find our groove and things have really been flowing these past couple of games,” Dubbert said. “We need to keep being aggressive in front of the goal and apply hard pressure defensively.” 

Dubbert, the pre-pharmacy major who has hopes to enter the Ferris State College of Pharmacy next year, has a big lead on the rest of her team when it comes to goals scored, as the next nearest Bulldog has only two goals. 

Defender-turned-forward Dubbert has the backing of her fellow upperclassmen as she leads the team’s scoring efforts, according to senior midfielder Hilerie Schatzle. 

“Carley really has a go-getter attitude and goal scoring mindset, she has six goals which have been a huge contribution to our team’s success so far,” Schatzle said. “She always plays 110 percent and with all the heart, which is exactly the kind of teammate you want to play alongside with and count on.” 

Schatzle recognizes the number of younger players on the team this year and knows that having a role model who can perform on the field is a big deal. 

“The upperclassmen are responsible for teaching the standards of the team to new teammates,” Schatzle said. “Here at Ferris, I think that has always been a tradition to make sure everybody is on the same page and working toward the same goals, and that is definitely part of our success.” 

With her pharmaceutical aspirations and her superb goal scoring ability, Dubbert has been serving up the right prescription for this Ferris State women’s soccer program and she hopes to do the same throughout the rest of the 2017 season. 

The ladies will finish the rest of their season playing against conference opponents en route to the GLIAC Tourney, which kicks off on Halloween. The first opponent on that list is Tiffin, who Dubbert and the rest of the Dawg pack will play on the road at noon on Friday, Oct. 6. 

Click here for more coverage on the Ferris soccer season.