St. Mary's Sneaks Away With a 2-1 Win Off of 2 Kalamazoo Own Goals in a Rainy, Wet MIAA Contest
September 30, 2006
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St. Mary's Sneaks Away With a 2-1 Win Off of 2 Kalamazoo Own Goals in a Rainy, Wet MIAA Contest September 30, 2006 |
The Kalamazoo College women's soccer team suffered a 2-1 loss at the hands of the Saint Mary's College (IN) Belles on Saturday 9/30, despite the fact that St. Mary's never actually scored a goal. Instead, the Hornets found themselves in the unfortunate position of having to come from behind, twice, due to a couple of disastrous errors made in the backfield which resulted in own goals.
The scoring opened in the 7th minute of play, when a St. Mary's player dribbled the ball down the left side of the field and hit a crossed ball which sailed about 6 yards out from the Kalamazoo goal. Out of the reach of freshman goalkeeper Kassie Johnston, the ball snaked through the 6-yard-box and looked as though it was going to continue past the goal-mouth and out of harm's way. A Kalamazoo defender was trailing a Belle forward near the far post, however, and in an attempt to clear the ball she actually knocked it backward into the goal.
The Hornets responded wonderfully, however, with a gorgeous earned goal just 51 seconds later. After attacking up the left side of the field for the entire first few minutes of the game, the Hornets finally looked to switch the point of attack and brought the ball toward the right side. Freshman flank midfielder Paige Howell started her run from about 80 yards away from St. Mary's goal, and sprinted down the right side of the field. Freshman center midfielder Katie Manstrom received the ball near the center circle, took one touch to turn toward the right side, and played a great through ball behind the Belles' defensive line for Howell to run onto. Howell collected the ball just outside the Belles' 18-yard-box, took one touch inside toward the goal, and hit a low, driven shot which beat St. Mary's goalkeeper at the near post.
"Paige's goal was great for many reasons," said Hornet Head Coach Laura Passage, "but my favorite aspect of it was the fact that it was almost a carbon copy of the chance she had at Calvin one week ago. A long far side run... a slotted ball to run onto... and this time, she finishes it as though it's the simplest thing in the world. It's so much fun to see our freshmen learning to stay composed in those situations. What a great goal."
The two teams battled it out very evenly for the remainder of the first half (4-3 shot ratio in favor of St. Mary's; 2-1 corner kick ratio in favor of Kalamazoo), but the score remained deadlocked at 1-1 as the second half began. As the game wore on, though, the Hornets' intensity began to wane and they played a flat and uninspired style. St. Mary's put heavy pressure on Kalamazoo, and finally got a break in the 71st minute when the Hornets again made a defensive error which resulted in an own goal. St. Mary's worked the ball to the top of the 18-yard-box area, and attempted to get off a shot. In the course of defending, a Kalamazoo player began to scrap around for the ball with one of the St. Mary's forwards, when the ball came off of the Kalamazoo defender's foot and traveled backward toward the left post. Hornet kepper Kassie Johnston scrambled to get her hand on the misdirected ball, but it was out of her reach and it bounced backward into the goal, low at the left post.
The second own goal acted as a catalyst, and the Hornets finally began to play with some urgency. The final 19 minutes of the game were an intense, back-and-forth battle between both teams, but ultimately Kalamazoo couldn't get the tying goal they needed. Their best chance came with just a couple of minutes remaining in regulation, when Howell received the ball at the top of the Belle 18-yard-box and hit a shot before being knocked over by a St. Mary's defender. The shot hit the underside of the crossbar and looked as though it was going to bounce downward across the goal line, but it rebounded about 1 foot off the goal line and St. Mary's goalkeeper was able to turn around and recover it before any other Kalamazoo player could get to it. No foul was called on the play, and eventually the final seconds ticked off the clock and St. Mary's escaped with the win.
"What a heartbreaker," commented Coach Passage. "Our team needs to take a lesson away from today's game: we played the last 15-20 minutes with incredible intensity and desire to score a goal. We didn't play that way for the first part of the second half, though. We can't wait to play with intensity until after our opponent scores a goal. By then, it's too late."
The Hornets will face up next against Olivet College (MI) in another MIAA contest at home on Tuesday 10/3 (4:00pm). Kalamazoo enters the game with a .500 record (4-4-0 overall; 1-2 MIAA), while Olivet is currently 3-5-1 overall (1-0-1 MIAA) with its most recent result being a 2-2 tie at Albion on Saturday 9/30.