Women's soccer struggles to score

Team is winless as opponents dominate second half

During half-time of the women's soccer games, the Yeowomen traditionally have a meeting in the middle of the field. But that is going to change, because in three games this season the Yeowomen have allowed a goal within two minutes of half-time.

Ohio Northern College scored the first of three goals in the opening minutes of the second half on their way to a 3-1 victory Tuesday.

Saturday, the Yeowomen allowed a Mount Saint Joseph College goal at the end of the first half to tie the game at one. The game ended with the same score.

Thursday, the Yeowomen were shut out at the College of Wooster 3-0. In an attempt to fix the post half-time jitters, the team is going to warm back up to start the second half.

"For the first half, we get psyched," first-year Emily Henry said. "At half-time we settle down and don't psyche ourselves back up."

At this point in the season, it is the mental aspects that are slowing the Yeowomen down.

"These teams are not better than us," first-year Andrea Mignolo said. "It's definitely a bummer to lose to them."

The Yeowomen outshot Mount St. Joseph 20-3 and Ohio Northern 9-4. The ball was constantly on the opponent's side of the field.

The Yeowomen are just not putting the ball in the net. And their opponents are.

"Three for four is ridiculous," coach Blake New said, referring to Ohio Northern's shot to goal ratio.

The Yeowomen's game against Mount St. Joseph began after the men's game at 5:30 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for 2 p.m., but because of motion sickness the team drives really slow.

The late start gave the rain clouds time to burst. The game began as the rain drops began to pound the empty bleachers. Overtime would not be played because of darkness.

Against Mount St. Joseph, senior Aparna Jain scored when her crossing ball deflected off the opposing goalkeeper's hands and over the goal line in the fifteenth minute of play.

Mount St. Joseph scored when goalkeeper junior Alysia Oakley left the box to chase the ball and missed the tackle.

"No one played well," Blake said. "We should have beaten that team 6-0. They didn't even have a goal keeper." The team uses a player who practices as a position player as their keeper.

The College of Wooster is the second ranked team in the region and traditionally a women's soccer powerhouse. They have a "real" goalie.

For 60 minutes of soccer the Yeowomen played with Wooster. During the first half Yeowomen played with an extra defender, which prevented a score. Oakley produced some amazing saves, while the Yeowomen offense remained tough throughout the game.

But in the 60th minute Wooster broke through with one goal - the one goal that was needed to break the Yeowomen's back. Wooster went on to a 3-0 victory, Oberlin managed only four shots.

The Yeowomen have had problems regaining momentum once they have lost it.

"We need mental training," Henry said.

The week dropped the Yeowomen's record to 3-4-1.

"Obviously we are disappointed," Henry said. "We've worked really hard. When you have put in a lot of effort and it doesn't show, it's frustrating." The Yeowomen have been missing several key players including Mignolo, first-year Erin Williamson and captain senior Camille Macpherson. All three were back for Thursday's game.

Most of the remaining players have nagging injuries, which caused Henry to say, "We are in pain while playing."

The team is optimistic that these games are not a sign of things to come.

"[The losses] are going to bring the team together." Jain said.

The Yeowomen are hoping to get a victory in at least one of their two home conference games this week. The team challenges Earlham College on Saturday and Case Western Reserve University Wednesday.

"We were 0-8 in conference last year," New said. "We don't want to be that way this year."

Going for it: Junior Katherine Roberts runs down a ball in Saturday's game against Mount Saint Joseph.(photo by Matt Sewell)