The University of Indianapolis women’s soccer team went 0-2 this weekend, when the Greyhounds traveled to battle the Quincy University Hawks and the Truman State Bulldogs.
Sophomore midfield/forward Stephanie Burdsall steals the ball feet from the sideline and charges toward the goal in an attempt to score during the Oct. 2 game against the University of Southern Indiana Eagles. Photo by Laken Detweiler
On Sunday, the women lost to the Bulldogs after allowing three unanswered goals.
Truman did not waste time and began scoring in the 11th minute. Only minutes later, sophomore midfield/forward Stephanie Burdsall had the opportunity to score but could not get the ball in the net.
A penalty kick allowed the next score for Truman putting them up 2-0 before finishing out the game in the 59th minute, to defeat the Hounds.
Two days earlier, the women fell short to Quincy University as well, with the lone UIndy goal coming from the foot of sophomore midfield/forward Michele Govern in the 83rd minute.
The Hawks came out in the first half to rack up two goals over the Hounds.
After the break, Quincy came back again to claim another 3 goals before Govern scored in the closing minutes of the game to prevent the shutout.
The late goal from Govern was not quite enough, and the Hounds fell 5-1 to the Hawks.
After the weekend of losses, head women’s soccer coach Holly Cox has not lost faith in her team.
“It’s always tough when you have to travel a distance and being on a bus for so long it does give you bus leg when you get off on that Friday, but the ladies have responded really well,” Cox said. “Sometimes it’s nice to get away from the distractions that you kind of have here at home. So it’s kind of hit or miss. It’s just how they prepare and kind of how the trip goes…. Sometimes it’s nice to play in front of your family and friends and in a place that’s familiar where you train quite often. So it does affect [the performance] sometimes when you’re on the road.”
Senior goalkeeper Emma Crenshaw expressed that she enjoyed having time alone to connect with her teammates without all of the responsibilities that her and her teammates have back home and at school.
“I like it [going on the road] more than anything because, as Holly said, it’s a good way to get away from distractions here,” Crenshaw said. “It gives you a chance to just really be with the ladies and come together as a team and think about what our purpose is, you know to win. And we’ve done really well while we travel, and we’ve done pretty good while we’re here, so it doesn’t affect too much of what our goal is, which is to win.”
The previous weekend, the team hosted the Bellarmine University Knights on Sept. 30 and the University of Southern Indiana Eagles on Sunday, Oct. 2. Although both games ended in a loss, without a goal from the Hounds, Cox was still proud of her team’s performance.
“I don’t think the scores have really reflected the way we’ve played, which is unfortunate,” Cox said. “I think we keep doing our game plan, we keep playing the way we’re playing, and we execute up top, and I think we start changing those games into wins.”
Crenshaw agreed with Cox, saying that the losses UIndy experienced against Bellarmine and USI were well fought games that could have gone to either team.
“I think we’ve played really, really good soccer, and the ladies have shown up for games and done really well,” Crenshaw said. “So scoring, putting the ball in the back of the net will be so important for us…. Unfortunately, we did lose those games 1-0, but it didn’t show our potential as a team. So if we can execute and win, it will get everybody going, and we’ll see the type of team we can be which, I think, is pretty top in the conference, actually.”
According to Crenshaw, the team is an all-around talented team that is playing very well. After experiencing the 1-0 losses, she says scoring will change their game and help pull out a win.
“At this level with college soccer, it’s one mistake and they have a goal on you,” Crenshaw said. “Then you’re battling back just to get the win or even just a tie. So it’s important [that] we minimize those mistakes and capitalize on the opportunities we get to move forward and try to score.”
Cox plans to keep playing UIndy soccer and work on the team as a unit, rather than focusing on the opponent. She says the opponent does not affect the way the women train, or play in the game.
“With this conference, you just never know what you’re going to get from the teams you’re going to be playing, ” Cox said. “If we play soccer like we did on Friday, I’m not worried about anyone we play…. Again the game plan doesn’t change with how we play our style of soccer…. This year we’ve focused more on us and doing what we need to do in order to be the best team we can possibly be.”
The Hounds will kick off the weekend at home when they host University of Missouri-St. Louis on Oct. 14 at Key Stadium. The game is set to start at 5 p.m.
