The Spring Arbor University women's soccer team kicked off it's season by splitting a pair of matches in Kentucky over the weekend. The Cougars dropped a tight 2-0 match to NAIA #3 ranked Lindsey Wilson College on Saturday before bouncing back to earn a 2-0 victory over neighboring Asbury College who is receiving votes in the NAIA pre season top 25 polls on Monday.
Facing off with the Blue Raiders of Lindsey Wilson College for the fourth consecutive season, the Lady Cougars forced the perennial NAIA women's soccer power to scratch out a pair of ugly goals to earn the victory.
The two teams played to a stalemate through the first forty five minutes of play, with SAU generating the best chance of the first half when sophomore Jalese DeBiasi's shot crashed off the Blue Raider crossbar and Heidi Sharp's follow up effort whistled wide of the left post. SAU came out on the bottom of a 5-2 shots on goal tally in the opening stanza.
LWC found the game winner just ten minutes into the second half when a ball deep into the left side of the Cougar penalty area resulted in a scrum. Second half Cougar goalkeeper Flo Atar was kicked in the head while attempting to smother a loose ball, leaving the net open for an easy poke in by LWC's Lorna Heaton. Atar would have to leave the game and was treated and released with several stitches later that night at a local hospital.
The Blue Raiders earned a little breathing room when they produced a similar goal in the 75th minute. A missed clearance resulted in a loose ball and a melee in front of the SAU goal which terminated in another close range tally for the hosts.
The Lady Cougars responded well and generated several good chances of their own, but were unable to get one past LWC goalkeeper Carrie Revlett. Lindsey Wilson out shot the Lady Cougars 10-7 on the match.
"We played with good energy and learned a lot about ourselves today," commented SAU head coach Jason Crist. "Any time you take the field against a talented team like Lindsey it's imperative that the players bring their best effort. I believe we did that tonight, we will just be working on improving our composure to make us more effective."
After a Sunday off, the Lady Cougars took the field against Asbury College and looked like a different team all together.
"As hard as we played Saturday, I was thoroughly disappointed in how we started Monday," commented Crist.
The Cougars opened the game with a nice goal at the 12 minute mark from junior Ali Nichols. Nichols took a clever through ball from fellow junior Jessica Clarke and beat the Asbury keeper to the lower left corner. The tally was Nichols' first in a Cougar uniform after transferring from Central Michigan University in 2007. The 5'10 forward sat out the 2008 season after injuring her knee in Cougar's opener. She was awarded a medical redshirt and retains sophomore status.
With a goal cushion, the Cougars took their foot off the gas however, allowing the Eagles to remain in the contest for the remainder of the first half.
After some halftime encouragement, a renewed SAU team took the field in the second stanza. The fired up Lady Cougars applied relentless pressure to the Asbury net and ripped off an impressive 19 shots in the period. The Eagles goalkeeper stood tall however and kept her side within a respectable striking distance, allowing just one SAU tally in the second half. The marker came when senior Heidi Sharp took down a Kristin Abbott cross and beat the AC keeper with a low effort to the far post in the 55th minute.
"The team responded well when I challenged them at halftime," commented Crist. "We played poorly in the first half, but bounced right back and righted ourselves to finish the game on a strong note."
The Cougars are going to have to find their finishing touch with tough opponents upcoming. SAU missed or were thwarted by the AC goalkeeper on no less than four breakaway opportunities in the second half alone.
The team will be back in action on Saturday when they face off with Robert Morris College (IL) in their home opener at 1 p.m.
