The BG women’s soccer team had a strenuous Labor Day weekend, losing tough games to Michigan State and Eastern Illinois. The team is now 1-3-0 early in the season, but has yet to see any conference action.
The 3-0 score of Friday’s match against Michigan State didn’t reflect the strong play of the Falcon squad. The Spartans’ first goal was scored off a free kick taken by Nina Mastracci 29:16 into the game.
“I thought we played pretty well today,” head coach Andy Richards said. “At halftime, it was pretty tight, and we caused that problem ourselves by conceding a free kick.”
The Falcons played well defensively and held the score at 1-0 into the second half. Just 6:19 into the second half, Michigan State midfielder Abby Shepherd served a ball in to Maureen Pawlak who sent the ball past BG keeper Jenifer Kernanhan.
BG forward Sam Meister gave the team some offensive chances in the second half as she got her head on several corner kicks in the Spartan box, but was unable to convert.
Luck seemed to be with the Spartans as they scored again with less than three minutes remaining in match play. Michigan State’s Emma Harris fired two shots on goal, scoring on the second shot.
Even though BG didn’t come away with the victory, Richards was pleased with the way the teamed performed, especially defensively.
“Defensively, I was very pleased with the way we counteracted what they had to throw at us. It was a much closer contest than the score suggests,” Richards said.
Captain Beth Rieman agreed with Richards that the team played well, but had some unlucky breaks. Both Rieman and Richards recognize the need to grow as much as possible from the first six non-conference games of the season.
“Basically, we just need to learn from these six games before we move into conference play,” Rieman said. “We had our chances. We were a bit unlucky, but we’ll deal with that and do better next time.”
While the entire team showed a strong effort through the game, Richards was impressed with the play of Meister and Kernahan, as well as two freshmen.
“I think [freshmen] Janie Babich and Tiernay Tilford have done a real nice job. We are particularly impressed with them,” Richards said. “Sam Meister is a great player for us. She’s a hardworker who carries a lot of responsibility.”
As far as scoring, the Falcons did better in their next match against Eastern Illinois on Sunday, allowing one less goal. The Panthers came away with a 2-0 victory. Scoring for Eastern were Trisha Walter and Michelle Steinhaus. BG keeper Ali Shingler had six saves in the game.
Losses are always tough, but the Falcons are taking important lessons away from these games that will help them when they begin to face Mid-American Conference opponents. The Falcons’ next match will be this Friday as they travel to Annapolis, Md. to play the U.S. Naval Academy.
