Women’s Soccer stumbles against Pirates

By carolinianweb on November 7, 2014 • ( 0 )

Quinn Hunter/The Carolinian

By Terrence Hinds, Staff Writer

Published in print Sept. 17, 2014

UNCG’s women’s soccer team fell in defeat for the fourth time this season as the Spartans lost to the East Carolina Pirates 1-0 Friday night.

The 1st half of the game featured a closely contested matched.

Each team got to see enough of the ball to try to make their imprint offensively on the game.

The Pirates held the advantage in shots attempts during the first half 4-2.

UNCG’s midfielder Zoe Fishman had an excellent first half.

The junior was able to make a couple of nice runs down the left side of the Pirates defense though she was unable to break for a shot attempt.

Defensively, Fishman was also able to put a stop to a couple of Pirate build ups as ECU attempted to breakthrough the Spartan defense.

Offensively, UNCG struggled throughout the afternoon as ECU’s goalie Saundra Baron’s net was impenetrable in the match.

Setting up her team’s defensive strategy, you could hear Baron from the stands communicating to her defense letting them know where and when to slide to stop the Spartan attack.

With her strong match, Baron was able to secure her fifth straight shut out.

The best opportunity for the Blue and Gold to breakthrough against East Carolina came when senior Ashley Stokes had a great chance to put the Spartans on the board in the 21st minute.

Strokes had the ball inside the box but Baron stopped her shot on goal emphatically.

Junior forward Chesney White also had a chance to put her team up in the first half but her shot was stopped in the 34th minute of the game.

In the second half, the Spartans had difficulty reaching the same energy level they had achieved in the first half. After the game Coach Coll said similar thoughts.

“I thought our energy was poor throughout the game” Coll stated.

“We didn’t deserve anything in that game. We were outfought from the first minute to the last.”

You could see the ECU team’s confidence grow exponentially as the second half went on.

The Pirates controlled the possession and moved through the midfield with relative ease and the Blue and Gold were helpless in trying to stop them.

Finally during the 69th minute, senior Pirate midfielder Lexi Herring stole the ball from a UNCG defender and was able to place a strong shot on goal that whizzed past goalie Chloe Buehler.

This was a tough blow to the squad, but as they did in the game against Army nearly two weeks ago, the Spartans energy increased dramatically during the next couple minutes of the game.

Shortly after the Pirates scored their goal, UNCG had their best opportunity in the second half to tie the game.

Junior Candice Forbes put a shot on goal that hit the top of the crossbar and ricocheted harmlessly behind the goal.

This would be the height of excitement for UNCG.

You could feel the energy leave the team after that shot did not end up in the back of the net.

Other than this moment, the Spartans simply could not find their flow in the second half.

Coach Coll expressed after the game that this may be due to the overall endurance of the team.

“ We had to use a lot of substitutions in the 2nd half our overall fitness was poor tonight” Coll said. “New kids had to go in which put us out of our rhythm.”

Disappointed in his team’s performance on Friday, Coll believed the team needed to play with more passion in order to better competes in their next game.

With weekend matches against High Point on Friday and James Madison on Sunday, the Spartans will certainly have plenty of opportunity to get back to their winning ways this week.