Grizzlies fall to 10th-ranked Earlham
On Thursday the women’s soccer team traveled to face off with the Great Lakes Region 10th-ranked Quakers of Earlham in a non-conference contest. The Grizzlies suffered an 8-0 loss.
The Grizzlies were unable to mount any offense throughout the game due to the quickness and physicality of the Quaker attack.
“We practiced hard in practice all week for Saturday against Earlham,” first-year coach Scott Moulton said. “Earlham has good numbers and we need to contain Senior Hilary Carter and not allow her any open shots.”
“They have a first-year coach who has done very well getting her team ready for their season as well,” added Moulton. “We need to play competitive and to make a little improvement on marking up and some defense.”
The game began with a scoreless 19 minutes until Earlham got on the board with a goal from Sophomore Karman Duchon in the 20th minute. Duchon followed up with another goal just six minutes later with an assist coming from Carter.
The Grizzlies went into halftime down 2-0. Sophomore goalkeeper Chelsea Parks faced 13 shots in the first half and had 11 saves to her credit.
The Grizzlies netted two shots on goal, both coming from the foot of Freshman Sarah Hume on free kicks. The women come out a little tired after the ten minute recess and had a tough time getting anything to go their way.
In the 51st minute Earlham began the scoring with a goal from Senior Maddie Dashovsky. That goal was followed up by a goal from Carter 39 seconds later.
The Quakers tacked on another goal in the 58th minute off of a corner kick from Sophomore Lauren Berry to the head of Carter. The Quakers added another goal just a minute later with a shot Senior Abi Maycock.
The Quakers added two more goals in the half. In the 79th minute the connection of Berry to Carter struck again off of a corner kick. In the 85th minute Junior Faye Rowell capped the scoring for the game.
The second half saw Parks hit with 14 shots and eight saves.
“It was a tough preseason for us,” Moulton said. “Earlham controlled the first 20 minutes of the game and kept the legs on the field fresh. We went out in the first half and competed, but just came out a little sluggish in the second half.”
“We only had 12 girls that were able to play and one of them got hurt in the first half,” Moulton continued “Sophomore Syd Surface was battling the flu as were some of the other women, but we are looking forward to the conference play to begin.”
“We made some improvements in the game,” said Moulton. “We had better ball movement, but will need to work out to the outside mids to try and string together scoring opportunities.”
The 1-5 Grizzlies will open up Conference play with the 2-6 Anderson Ravens September 20 for an 11 a.m. start.
