Despite Strong Showing, Falcons Down Spartan 1-0
Germantown, OH (August 25, 2004) The Lady Spartans soccer team took off on their home field Tuesday night for their first 2004 season game. The squad went up against a tough Fenwick team, falling 1-0. Coach Jeff Stiver knew coming into the game the Falcons were going to be one of the toughest teams the Spartans would face-off against this season.
"I knew it would be a tough opening game. One of their girls is being scouting by a Division I school. It's hard to say, whether you want to start the season off with an easier team or a more experienced one, but we did get a lot of questions answered tonight," Stiver commented.
In the first 20 minutes of the game, the Spartans had total control, the ball remaining mostly in their possession, but as the girls began to tire, substitutions were made.
"We have some girls out with injuries. We were alternating Sam Buehner and Linley Clark who both have sore quads right now and those are the things that make a difference. We didn't want to put them in for forty minutes and then have to sit them for the next three to four games," Stiver noted.
Rookie goalie Laura Tipton showed just exactly what she was made of. With 25:56 remaining in the first half she took a slide kick into a ball that switched the possession back to the Spartans. It was a gutsy call, coming away from the goal, but she made the right decision by being aggressive. The rest of the game wasn't much different.
"Laura did a tremendous job for us. It was a good game to see exactly what she could do. She did a good job distributing and placing the ball," Stiver said.
Laura made some great decisions, but she also had a great team to back her up. Abby Burns was grinding her cleats into the grass and kicking the ball away from the net during those time that Tipton would get caught up away from the goal.
"Abby and Sam both played really well defensively. Abby has improved a lot from last season and will get herself in there with anyone," added Stiver.
The first half ended with 0-0, but in the opening of the second half Fenwick came out strong and managed to put a goal in off a mistake by the Spartans.
"They didn't score off our defense, they scored off a bad touch that was intercepted," Stiver noted.
By the end of the game the Spartans put Fenwick between a rock and hard place, but still couldn't manage to slip one to the back of their opponents net.
"In the last ten minutes of the game we became more solid. We changed the formation from 4-4-2, which is a more defensive style, to 4-3-3, which is throwing another person forward. In order to run a 4-3-3 you have to be more familiar with your opponent's style, so we didn't want to run that formation until later in the game," mentioned Stiver.
"In the 4-3-3 there is only one midfielder and that makes it more difficult. However because we were behind in the score 1-0 it wasn't as concerning. If they score one or two more goals it would still be a loss for us. We just need to be more consistent and play the entire game like we played the last 10-15 minutes," Stiver added.
Despite the loss, Stiver admits that he saw some nice things and he's sure that Fenwick got a taste of what the Spartans are all about.
"We showed the type of team we are. We did a lot of good things and this game answered a lot of questions for us," said Stiver.
The Lady Spartans return to action this Thursday, as they travel to Carlisle for the second game of their season. Stiver is confident that if the girls come out and play as hard as they showed against Fenwick, they will see a big "W" in the record books.
"If we play with the same intensity that we played with tonight I think we should go there (Carlisle) and be able to win," Stiver noted.
