Herd women’s soccer tie in home opener
The Marshall University women’s soccer team tied against the Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis Jaguars Friday. Although the Thundering Herd controlled large portions of the game, early mistakes came back to haunt them.
“The takeaway is that we are good enough to compete in all our games, if we don’t package our effort the right way a lot of teams are going to play with us,” Marshall University head coach Kevin Long said.
Long said that while Marshall is a talented team, it is still a young team and players need to grow, as there may have been initial nervousness that allowed the Jaguars to jump to an early lead. This was the first time this season that Marshall had trailed in a game and came back to force a good result from the contest.
The first half saw most of the possession go to the Thundering Herd. The scoreboard was controlled early by IUPUI though, with a scramble in front of the net resulting in IUPUI defender Sierra Bryant scoring. Bryant scored again on a counter attack after Marshall pressed forward, receiving a pass wide open and putting some power behind her kick. Marshall’s Emily Moreland deflected the shot, but not enough to keep it out of the back of the net.x
Marshall returned the favor, pocketing two goals in the first half as well. While Marshall maintained a great portion of the possession, it came to fruition when Sydney Arnold ran down a loose ball going toward the end line, centering the ball for Jayne Lawman to shoot it in.
Arnold would get a goal of her own just over five minutes later. Ashley Seltzer played the ball into Arnold in the box, who then turned, getting around the defense, and sent the ball into the goal. IUPUI’s Catherine Schmidt got a hand on the ball, but like Moreland earlier, it was not enough to keep it from rippling the mesh.
The second half was played similarly, but with IUPUI controlling a little more possession. Neither team really had an excellent chance to pocket the winning goal, but Marshall had a decisive edge as the ball remained in the IUPUI side of the field, never really approaching Marshall’s defensive third.
Marshall’s best opportunity to score came from a possession starting from the defensive back line, with a majority of the team getting a touch before Sidney Arnold made a break around a couple defenders. Her shot met the hands of Schmidt though, as Schmidt had been in the perfect position to make the save.
After the second half, the score was tied and the game went into an extra session. Possession was largely even between the two teams. With a couple attempts to end the game, neither team could break the tie.
The Thundering Herd record changes to 1 – 2 – 1 on the season, with the next game being a home game against East Tennessee State University Sunday at 4 p.m.
Joseph Ashley can be contacted at [email protected].
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