Women’s soccer blanked Mount Union
The women’s soccer team was at a crossroads Saturday, as it traveled to Alliance, Ohio to face 4-2 non-conference opponent Mount Union. Waynesburg started out the season 3-0, allowing only one goal in each game, before hitting a three game stretch of three winless games (0-1-2). After a 5-0 loss to the Purple Raiders, the team was left searching for answers.
“Hats off to Mount Union because they played a good game,” said head coach Laura Heethuis. “Unfortunately I would say that are team was less than energetic pretty much for the full 90 minutes. When that happens, we’re going to let players sneak through and let them get opportunities on goal. They took their chances and they finished them”.
After one half of play, the Jackets only trailed 1-0 going into the locker room. Mount Union scored two goals within 2:17 of each other, and with less than 20 minutes to play in the contest down 4-0, the win seemed out reach for Waynesburg.
“After they scored the second goal, I really felt our confidence as a team, really diminished,” said senior defenseman Taylor Bombalski. “Our mindset after they scored was not what it should have been. I saw heads drop, which was our biggest down fall.”
The Purple Raiders added a goal in the 84th minute to seal the win 5-0 on freshman goalkeeper Marian Chearney. Starter Ciara Scott was substituted for after she allowed her fourth goal of the day, and finished the day with five saves. The Purple Raiders outshot the Jackets 14-9 on the day, but it wasn’t the amount of shots taken by Mount Union that frustrated Bombalski.
“We really had a lack of communication offensively and defensively on Saturday,” said Bombalski.
Though the Jackets suffered their worst defeat of the season, Heethuis liked what she saw in the first 45 minutes, but was disappointed by the women’s play in the second half.
“We stuck with them in the first half, and it’s a lot easier to come back from 1-0,” said Heethuis. “But once we gave up our second goal, we started to play individualistic type of soccer. When you do that, you’re not going to be successful. So we have to continue a team mentality and keep moving forward.”
“It’s the small things that add up throughout a game,” said Heethuis. “So we’ll go back through and watch some of the film from Saturday’s game, and will also touch back on our rules and responsibilities of each position.”
After Wednesday’s road match-up against Baldwin Wallace, the Jackets will have two more home non-conference games before Presidents’ Athletic Conference play opens up. Waynesburg faces Bluffton University Saturday at 2 p.m., and then duel with the Point Park University Pioneers, who are an NAIA program, before beginning PAC play against the Grove City Wolverines Friday Oct. 3.
“We’ve got to come ready to play and come with the energy to win,” said Heethuis. “But like I said, if we do the little things right, the big things will fall into place.”