August 31, 2009

Lady Tiger soccer loses opener at Hutchinson

Opening its season on the road Friday against a strong Hutchinson Community College squad, the Cowley College women’s soccer team played a solid first 20 minutes. However, the rest of the game did not go as well as Hutchinson went on to score five goals to end the first half and added six more in the second half en route to an 11-0 win.

Cowley head coach Dane Straight was expecting a far different outcome.

“I am extremely disappointed and upset, in all of my year’s of coaching I think this is my worst defeat ever,” Straight said. “For 20 minutes we did what we needed to, then after they scored that first goal it seemed we stopped talking and playing with heart.”

The Lady Tigers were playing without all-conference midfielder Carol Rodrigues, who missed the game due to illness.

“Carol not playing did not make an 11-goal difference, but we did have to make some adjustments as to what we do in the back, and that didn’t work,” Straight said.

Hutchinson’s Stephanie Franz’s goal at the 20:24 mark of the first half got the scoring started. Franz would cap the scoring in the first half as her goal at the 37:59 mark put Hutchinson on top 5-0.

Franz would tally three more goals in the second half as she scored five goals in the game. Leilah Saadi added two goals for the Lady Dragons, while Chelsey Myers chipped in with three assists.

Cowley managed only two shots on goal as Hutchinson did a good job of containing the Lady Tigers’ Amber Hernandez, who scored 26 goals as a freshman.

Luckily for Cowley they get to put this loss behind them and get back on the field quickly as they will host Allen County Community College tonight at 5 p.m. at the Cowley Athletic Complex, located at 223 Pierce in Arkansas City.

“We need a confidence booster,” Straight said.