ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Eckerd College women's soccer team (1-9-1, 0-6 SSC) was hoping to snap its three-game losing streak as they took on the Tampa Spartans (5-8-1, 1-2 SSC) on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, the Tritons were unable to walk away with a win, as they fell 4-0.
Going into today's game, Coach Joe McCauley stated, “I wanted us to bounce back from our last game, and kind of come out a little stronger. The one thing that we were trying to improve upon is being more mentally prepared and a little more enthusiastic.”
The Tritons were off to a rough start as Spartan Sara Kneeland received a pass by Brittan Spence from the left side that allowed her to score in the third minute of the game.
The Tritons did not have the same defensive depth as they have had in previous games, as they were without
Maggie Swanbeck, who is currently out with an injury.
“For us, what happens is we have to move some players around a little bit and force a player to play in a position they haven't been playing in a while so it does create some problems and you hope that they can adapt quickly.“
In the 18th minute of the game, Samantha Kay scored the second goal, as she stole the ball from Eckerd's defense and ran down the left side with no one to stop her.
It was the fourth corner kick in the game that gave Spartan Jazmin Perry the opportunity to score the third goal thus far. Eckerd's defense attempted to clear the ball but it was stolen by Perry who improved the score to 3-0. With seven minutes left in the first half, Molly Gottleib contributed another goal for Tampa, making the score 4-0.
Going in the second half, McCauley knew that his team was capable of doing better if they just stayed focused and confident. He knew his team could improve, and be ready to face the Spartans in the second half.
“What we talked about at halftime was to look at what happened in the first half and telling ourselves that we are better than that and that, in the second half, we can come out and play and redeem some things and get back in the game with a goal if possible and really just raise our level.”
The Tritons were able to take in everything that McCauley said, as they went 0-0 in the second half, with their defense holding up a lot stronger than in the first half. Triton goalkeeper
Kelly Zahorski came in to play for the second half, allowing no goals for the Spartans while making three saves.
With 23 minutes left in the second half,
Samantha Nichols had an opportunity to score as she received the ball at midfield and ran down the right side of the 18-yard box untouched. Unfortunately, her shot just missed the goal, going just wide to the right.
Tampa outshot Eckerd 12-3, and had a total of 15 corner kicks, while Eckerd was only able to obtain one. Tampa had seven shots on goal.
With two home games left for the Eckerd Tritons, McCauley hopes that everyone on his team can come to play and start to believe that they can be successful. The Tritons will return this Saturday as they face Clearwater Christian at 7pm.
“We have had a lot of success against Clearwater Christian in the past, so that is something we can focus on. We have to come out and play well, we have to come out focused, and if we do that than we know that success should be ours.”
