New players create a new challenge
The University of Indianapolis women’s soccer team graduated five players last year. However, according to head coach Geoffrey VanDuesen other players are ready to fill their positions.
“Losing those seniors was a blow to us, but it was also an opportunity for others to step up, and it’s going to happen,” said VanDeusen.
While the freshman class is promising, many are sidelined with injuries. The team struggled to score a goal early this season, which poses an interesting problem for the team. “The positive thing about it is now any one person can step up on any given day. On any given day, it can be any one of our players who step up. That’s motivating and awesome,” Libby Anderl, team co-captain said.
The team was handed a 2-0 loss from Southern Indiana on Sept. 12, despite 11 Greyhound shots on the goal.
On Sept. 15, Northern Kentucky University scored two goals in the second claiming victory over UIndy and dropping the hounds to 0-4-1 for the season. The Northern Kentucky University defense held the Greyhounds to only three shots on goal. Shae Morris, the UIndy goalie had eight saves for the night.
Junior Megan Grassly attempts a goal in the match against Saint Joseph on Sept. 24 at Key Stadium. Greyhounds won 3-0, breaking their two game losing streak and giving the team their first win of the season. Photo by Kayla Prosser.
“It’s just that we’re kind of in this mental block of ‘we can’t score, we haven’t scored yet,’ and I think it’s kind of getting to everyone and making them kind of cautious in how they play,” said Morris.
Conference rival Bellarmine University defeated UIndy 1-0 on Sept. 19. UIndy struggled to find the net with only two shots on goal.
The Greyhounds snapped their losing streak with a 3-0 victory against Saint Joseph’s on Sept. 24. The three points were delivered in the second half by freshmen Kaitlyn Braunig and Nicole Duncan and junior Megan Grassly.
“It was kind of cool to see that it wasn’t one person who stepped up tonight; it was three different people. I think that gives all of our players confidence in that we have an offensive spark and it isn’t coming from just one person- it’s coming from the team,” said Anderl.
With difficult games ahead, the 1-5-1 record (1-4-1 conference).
“They’re not expecting us to play with them,” Anderl said. “And that’s what I think we’ll do to every team the rest of this season. You’re not expecting us to play like this and we’re going to. We don’t give up.”
