Women's Soccer Coaches Corner
by Aron Bassoff
Updated: 9/11/05

The beginning of the season began for us on September 2-3, and we experienced both the highs and lows in the same weekend. On Saturday, we took on the home side ,Indiana Tech. From the beginning it was obvious to see we had a lot of energy and commitment to play. The focus on execution was high, and we were rewarded by scoring a goal in the first 3 minutes of the game. We continued to pressure and created numerous opportunities throughout the half. We showed good form in finishing those chances by going up at halftime 3-0. Indiana Tech was a more lively side in the 2 nd half and put more pressure on us. We responded like a team that was not use to being that situation and did not hold our form quite that well. We continued to work at it for the rest of the half which was a positive sign to see and finished winning the game 4-1. The next game against Madonna saw us take on a rising team. This team has been close to qualifying for Nationals and had tied Lindsey Wilson the week before 1-1 at Lindsey. They were extremely athletic and possessed solid individual ability. Our energy level was extremely low compared to the first game. Madonna was all over us from the beginning, and we struggled to put more the 1-2 passes together. Madonna created chance after chance on our mistakes and their possession. They went ahead 3-0 at half. The 2 nd half could be described as going from bad to worse. We gave Madonna less chances, and we had a little better play but made bigger mistakes that resulted in a 7-0 final score for Madonna.

I was interested to see how we would respond in our next match against Transylvania on Thursday. We tried to put the ladies under more pressure in practice and demand the same level of execution. I believe it is crucial for us to be able to execute well against a team of Madonna’s caliber. We had a good practice on Monday then struggled on Tuesday and did ok on Wednesday. Going into the Transylvania game there still were doubts about how well we would play. Those doubts were still there after the game. We played better in some aspects of the game but in other have regressed. Transylvania did not have the same athleticism as Madonna so we had more time and space to execute. We showed better patience in our build up but could not create scoring opportunities and lacked motivation out on the field. We were fortunate to score a goal off a ball that was knocked around the box off a corner in the 2 nd half but could not hold the lead. We allowed a Transy player to turn the corner and score at the near post with 4 minutes left. We displayed better play in the overtimes but did not have the fitness to finish it off and the score finished 1-1 and our record now stands at 1-1-1. It is critical for us to win games like the Transylvania game if we will achieve more then in the previous years. Only time will tell if this team can do it. Up next is Union College on Tuesday at Union and Cumberland University on Saturday at our place at 3:30. Both games will be tough ones.

Week 1 Corner - 09/04/05