Injury bug stings women's soccer team
By Ryan Rogers
Sports Editor
September 12, 2007
In women’s soccer this weekend, the Lancers continued to struggle offensively as they faced off against the Brock Badgers and McMaster Marauders. Losing 2-0 and 3-0 respectively, the girls are having difficultly scoring goals. The team has now only managed to score one goal in their last four games, while allowing the opposition to score 11 goals.
The injury-ridden team of youngsters are looking to find some offense, and with it some confidence, in the next week while preparing for the weekend where they’ll face off against the Western Mustangs and Guelph Gryphons. With the losses the Lancers now sit at the bottom of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) standings with no points. Their upcoming opponents are tied for sixth place in the standings with four points each and each have a record of one win, two losses and a tie.
After the match against the Badgers, defender Nicole Dowell acknowledged the pressure that the defense was under. “They [Brock] had a good attacking team, so all the pressure was in our end for the first little bit.”
Dowell faired well throughout the game, though, blocking passes and shots, many of which were destined to be threatening scoring plays in the keeper’s crease. “That’s the scooper’s job,” she said, “you’ve got to get it out.”
Brock’s Danielle Sterns scored both the goals for the Badgers. The first goal came on a penalty kick early in the second half, and the second about 25 minutes later when two Brock strikers toppled and stripped the Lancers’ solo defender, giving Sterns a clear shot on goal.
Heather Daichendt, a striker, felt that Brock closed the doors on defense shortly after scoring their go-ahead goal. “We were having a lot of good balls, but they had a lot of people back,” said Daichendt. Brock was satisfied to clear the ball in deep with each of their possessions, frustrating the Lancers. “They were punting it straight out, … [which] is good, it’s good defense. It stopped us from scoring,” lamented Daichendt. Daichendt is the only woman to score so far this season, despite having to ice down a case of shin splints after each game.
Head coach Kris Geier echoed the frustration of the team. “It’s very frustrating. We’ve got the talent level. It’s right there, but right now we’re having trouble with ball possession. I think the main thing is confidence. They kids have got to learn to play with a little bit more pizzazz and want to hang onto the ball a bit longer,” he said.
Geier pointed out to the Lancers that the Badgers weren’t particularly better. “It’s just a matter of who’s going to want it more,” he said. “They go up for the head balls and our kids don’t, and I think they had a little bit more desire than we did,” he confessed.
Geier said the women are having a difficult start due in part to some untimely injuries. “Injuries are decimating our team. We’ve got two kids who haven’t even played yet this year, and I was hoping they were going to play well for us and get a lot of minutes,” said Geier. “Right now that hurts us, ‘cause they both give us some versatility that we could use,” he continued.
Midfielder Jessie Doucette and striker Carolyn Lott were expected to have strong seasons, but were injured before the season. Defensive regular April LeClaire, for example, has been struggling with a sore groin for the first few games of the season.
In the second game last weekend against the Marauders, the injury news went from bad to worse, with a case of the flu finding its way onto the bench. Geier said, “They played well for the first half, and then ran out of gas.” Despite just the flu, striker Caitlin Pawlett had to come out of the game after butting heads with another player, and she had to receive stitches. Geier said, “We normally have 19 players, but we’re lucky if we get 11 on the field. We played our hearts out, but ran out of gas.”
The best strategy, feels Geier, is to give the team a week off to recuperate. “We have to get healthy… after the flu bug and the injuries, it seems to be just one thing after another. We’re going to have to bring in the voodoo doctor,” said an exacerbated Geier.
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