The Falcons will look to improve and build off their loss against Cleveland State as they host Butler at Cochrane Field Saturday at 4 p.m.
The BG women’s soccer team lost their opener to Cleveland State 2-1 Aug. 25th.
They will need to improve their individual markings and finishing their shots on goal opportunities when they host Butler University Aug. 31 at 4 p.m., said Head Coach Lindsay Basalyga.
“I thought on the day the game could have gone either way,” Basalyga said. “The soccer that we were playing looked very good compared to the previous three scrimmages. I was happy that we saw 10 shots and that all 10 of those shots were on goal.”
Freshman Haley Malaczewski scored the Falcons’ lone goal right before the end of the first half to send the game into a tie during the break. Cleveland State would score about halfway through the second half to gain the lead for good.
“I kind of felt overwhelmed after the goal,” Malaczewski said. “I was just very excited and it just happened so fast that is was shocking.”
The Falcons will welcome the Butler team Saturday to Cochrane Field. While the Falcons will be looking to build on their strengths, they will also need to make some improvements if they are to beat Butler.
“Butler is a very good team, but so are we,” defender Alyssa Carmack said. “It just depends on who comes to play that day, I just think we need to play our game and not get caught up in their game. If we do that, I think we can have some good things happen.”
Head Coach Basalyga is confident the things they learned from the Cleveland State game and the confidence they gained will carry over to the Butler game Saturday.
“I think every time we train and every time we touch the ball that we are gaining confidence,” Basalyga said. “We train at a high work rate and in tight spaces so we are starting to get more comfortable in tight a space, which is very good for us when we get on a full size field.”
Butler is a team coming off of an improved 12-win season under Co-Head Coaches Tari St. John and Rob Alman. Butler improved from eight wins in 2011 to 12 wins this past season. They also bring back their three top goal scorers from a year ago along with their starting goalkeeper.
“Butler is a very good team who moves the ball very well,” Basalyga said. “They have some dangerous players up through the middle of the field that we are going to have to put pressure on because they are going to want to break us down either off the dribble or off the pass.”
Basalyga hopes that as the team plays together more, it will build better chemistry.
“As we continue to progress through the next couple of weeks, we will need to turn our shot opportunities into goals,” Basalyga said.
