soccerfanatic
Active member
Finally, a home game.
The road weary Bengals return home this weekend for the first home game since the season opener against Utah State. It has been a long, tough haul, with a 1-4-1 road record. Time to return to the home turf and defend their 13-game home undefeated streak.
The team is older and wiser than when they left. The experience was extremely good for the large number of young players on the team. Only two players with more than one year of experience with the Bengals saw any playing time (until Jana Boehler made her first appearance since the opener last week.)
The team has been playing stronger every game. BYU was the first game since the opener that the team came out hard and fast. The team has looked better almost every game since their last win (at Air Force,) but they do not have any wins since then to show for the effort. However, they should be in top shape by the time conference play rolls around.
Defensively, the team is allowing only slightly more shots per game this season (almost 17 per game compared with 15 last year) but is allowing 1.21 goals per game compared with 0.77 last year. This is slightly deceptive though, as last year the team allowed exactly thee same number of goals (9) through the first seven games as they did last year. Plus, they have accomplished this with our veteran keeper out of action and playing two different freshmen in the lineup. If the defense continues to improve this year, they should be on par with the excellent defense ISU put up last season.
Offensively, the team is still getting their rhythm. Coordinating a offense takes learning each other’s moves, and over half of the offensive team never played together prior to six weeks ago. Of the six players on the offense front, only two were starters on the team last year. True, the offensive production is less than half of last year’s output through the first 7 games, but last year Coach Gibson started 11 veteran players in the first game of the year and by game 7, only two freshman had worked their way into the lineup. This year, Coach has been starting 4-5 freshmen almost every game. These players will need time to work up to speed… and that is what pre-season is all about.
So, even though we would all like to see more success for the team, I haven’t written these girls off. They will still accomplish some amazing things this season. And I am really looking for to the first home game since August 22nd this Friday.
The road weary Bengals return home this weekend for the first home game since the season opener against Utah State. It has been a long, tough haul, with a 1-4-1 road record. Time to return to the home turf and defend their 13-game home undefeated streak.
The team is older and wiser than when they left. The experience was extremely good for the large number of young players on the team. Only two players with more than one year of experience with the Bengals saw any playing time (until Jana Boehler made her first appearance since the opener last week.)
The team has been playing stronger every game. BYU was the first game since the opener that the team came out hard and fast. The team has looked better almost every game since their last win (at Air Force,) but they do not have any wins since then to show for the effort. However, they should be in top shape by the time conference play rolls around.
Defensively, the team is allowing only slightly more shots per game this season (almost 17 per game compared with 15 last year) but is allowing 1.21 goals per game compared with 0.77 last year. This is slightly deceptive though, as last year the team allowed exactly thee same number of goals (9) through the first seven games as they did last year. Plus, they have accomplished this with our veteran keeper out of action and playing two different freshmen in the lineup. If the defense continues to improve this year, they should be on par with the excellent defense ISU put up last season.
Offensively, the team is still getting their rhythm. Coordinating a offense takes learning each other’s moves, and over half of the offensive team never played together prior to six weeks ago. Of the six players on the offense front, only two were starters on the team last year. True, the offensive production is less than half of last year’s output through the first 7 games, but last year Coach Gibson started 11 veteran players in the first game of the year and by game 7, only two freshman had worked their way into the lineup. This year, Coach has been starting 4-5 freshmen almost every game. These players will need time to work up to speed… and that is what pre-season is all about.
So, even though we would all like to see more success for the team, I haven’t written these girls off. They will still accomplish some amazing things this season. And I am really looking for to the first home game since August 22nd this Friday.