Oct. 3rd— Game vs. Loyola
Like I have said before, soccer is cruel game. The better team doesn’t always win. You may think I am biased in saying we are the better team in the game… but after the game their coach came up to Mike and said, “You guys were better.”
Unfortunately we didn’t get it done. Like Green-Bay, Loyola packed it in, so all but one forward were within 35 yards of their goal, trying to hold onto their 1-0 lead. Their goal came from the ball bouncing around the box, Kane made two nice saves, but they followed in on the rebound and finished. For the next 75 minutes we pounded them. They rarely got out of their half, but we couldn’t put any of our shots away.
That’s the game of soccer though. Our finishing wasn’t there. It was lacking and their defense were resilient. Unfortunately possession doesn’t win games. I could list some close chances we had, but none of them count for anything. They played a physical and defensive game and it worked out for them, the next time we play them it might not.
All I know is we will see how respond because Wright State is our next step.
Oct 4th- Day of Rest…day of sleeping
This was a full roadtrip weekend. after Loyola we went straight to Ohio…we didn’t arrive until 4:50 a.m (eastern time). Yes, 4:50 a.m.! And, we went straight to bed and didn’t wake up till 11:45 a.m. Everyone was exhausted, but we got some breakfast and then went to training, and after that we went back to sleep, those who didn’t sleep until dinner did some homework. We had dinner at Olive Garden, back to the hotel for homework and sleep.
This was a full roadtrip weekend. after Loyola we went straight to Ohio…we didn’t arrive until 4:50 a.m (eastern time). Yes, 4:50 a.m.! And, we went straight to bed and didn’t wake up till 11:45 a.m. Everyone was exhausted, but we got some breakfast and then went to training, and after that we went back to sleep, those who didn’t sleep until dinner did some homework. We had dinner at Olive Garden, back to the hotel for homework and sleep.
I unfortunately don’t have any funny stories…mainly because we were sleeping or walking around half asleep…and the things that were funny, well were only funny because we were slap happy from lack of sleep.
Oct. 5th- The rowdy Raiders
We just lost a conference game vs Loyola and potentially lost the control of hosting conference tournament. We broke our 31-game unbeaten streak in conference. We let Loyola beat us for only the second time in history. We most likely lost our 22nd position in the national rankings, and our 2nd ranking regionally. That’s a lot of things we just let go from a 90-minute game... but we gained a lot more in my opinion.
...now bare with my inspirational sounding rambles, there is a point...
I have always heard people say, ‘a team shows maturity when they can keep winning games and can be consistent.’ For most of the season we have done that, but ‘a team shows its character in how it responds to the next game after a loss.’ We responded with 3-0 win against Wright State on their home field.
We learned from the loss at Loyola. I would have preferred to take this loss now then potentially in conference tournament. I think the new players gain the experience of how it feels to lose in conference and as a team we aren’t going to let it happen again.
I haven’t seen many teams pack all 11 of their players into a box on a corner very often. However, this was Wright State’s defense and it came around to harm them, in my opinion. Steuer played a great ball into the box, right in the middle of all 11 of their players and about 7 of ours. We so much congestion in the 6 yard box, they failed to clear the ball, being deflected of their own players and ours, until Teegarden put the ball away, 1-0.
Our next goal came from Louise Vraney. On their left side of the field about 20 yards in from half, she took on one of their center mids and blew past her. She then took on their right back (at this point she was on at the corner of the 18 on the base line) and blew past the right back. Now finally, she took on the right center back, and yes again blew past her. And, with a great ball to Kreuser who’s shot got deflected the first time but Laurel finished with a half volley, 2-0.
Our final goal came from Sarah Hagen. She had a great ball played into her feet at about the top of the 18 yard box, took a touch that put her behind their defensive line and would have been on a break away, but both center backs collapsed on her and she drew the foul—PK. Hagen took it, keeper had no chance to save it, 3-0.
Last thought: In the past I have talked about respect for the game of soccer, but I bring the topic back up, not to direct it specifically at any other team, but to point out the class that our team has and the respect for the game. We work as hard as we can, we try to play good, we are creative on offense, organized on defense, we tackle hard but not cheap or late, we don’t talk trash (that’s a big one), and finally we leave it on the field. We understand we are going to have a game like the loss against Loyola, but its not the end of the world and it won’t happen again.
