A sluggish start on offense hamstrung the Massachusetts women’s soccer team, which suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Saint Louis Thursday afternoon.
UMass (10-5-1, 5-3-1 A10) weren’t able to maintain possession early as SLU (14-3-1, 9-0-0 A10) took a total of nine shots in the first half. The Minutewomen ended up being outshot by a margin of 12-8 for the game.
“We were inconsistent,” said first-year head coach Jason Dowiak. “I’m actually really proud of how some of the players that came off the bench came on and impacted the game and gave us some second life and some second chances, but we expect more from ourselves and we have to start better in games.”
The Minutewomen struggled to generate scoring opportunities at the start but began to get chances toward the end of the first half on shots from Signe Schioldan and Julia Taffuri. Unfortunately for UMass, only Schioldan’s was on net and it was stopped by the Billikens’ goalkeeper Olivia Silverman, who finished with six saves.
“I mean they’re a great team,” said Dowiak. “There’s a reason that they haven’t lost [in conference play]. They’ve shut out [11] teams now this year, but I think it was more our lack of energy in the beginning of the game, and then we got pinned in and it got a little more difficult to break that pressure. That being said, when we did break the pressure I thought we got good numbers forward. It was just the final moment that we struggled with today.”
The first goal for the Billikens came in the 13th minute when sophomore midfielder Olivia Petit scored her third goal of the season. She was at the receiving end of a corner from junior midfielder Courtney Reimer and headed it past UMass goalkeeper Peyton Ryan into the back of the net.
SLU added another off a corner in the 47th minute. Annabelle Copeland took a rebound and fired a laser over the head of Ryan into the top right corner for her second goal of the season. Reimer and freshman defender Isabel Burke tallied assists on the play.
The Billikens sealed the deal in the 87th minute when Maddie Pokorny took a ball played in from the left side from Isabella Palazzolo and buried it inside the far post.
“It can only get better,” said Dowiak. “We can only be more impactful in the final third. We did some really good things in certain moments against the best team in the conference. When we look at that as a team on video, we’ll be able to gain confidence I think from what we were able to do against them.”
The loss marked the first time UMass suffered consecutive defeats this season, while the three goals allowed were also the most for the Minutewomen this season.
The Billikens remain undefeated in conference play, while the Minutewomen will look to end their season on a high note against Dayton on Sunday afternoon before they head into the A-10 tournament.
Ethan Nash can be reached at [email protected] and followed on twitter @ethan_nash15.
Joe Cerniawski • Oct 20, 2018 at 2:39 am
Okay, St Louis had some 5 or 4 CKs in the 1st half and good 8 to 9 shots compared to UMass 0 and 1 but UMass controlled the tempo of the game in that half 60 to 40% possession-wise. Once again the front line not getting off shots. UMass passing well but not crisp and fast enough. St Louis able to sit back having that one-goal lead and packed it in defensively. Too many defensive players in the last 20 yds and you need to spread them apart so there is space to pass behind them. That is how St Louis got their 3rd goal of the match. St Louis counter attacked and skillfully placed a nice pass behind the left defender and race was on. Maddie Pokorny touched it few times going down the left and made a nice cross pulling it slightly back to 10 yds out to oncoming striker. It was beautifully executed.
I did not understand why midfielder Jenny Hipp was not in the match the last 25+ mins. She moves the ball nicely and is a constant threat on the pitch. She is one of the few players that should be allowed to carry the ball a little more often. I believe in 1 to 2 touch passes but when you get just outside or in the penalty box there is less time to react and the players need to shoot or go 1 on 1 (dribble).
There is no doubt that Saint Louis is a well disciplined and talented group of players, their play on the pitch was well executed. Of the last 3 contests @ home, this was the only 1 that UMass did not deserve to win but they were not outplayed either. The coaching staff has done a great job this year and the program will get national attention in the coming years. I hope women can collect one more win this Sunday at Dayton.
ps. A UMass Alumn and player (’68 – ’72)