Soccer Off and Running

[soccerfanatic]

Bengals Soccer is off and running following an impressive overtime tie against Westminster. It was the first opportunity that Coach Gibson has had to evaluate her players in a game situation. Many of those players rose to the challenge and etched their skills in the minds of coaches and fans.

Karissa Henage-Fisher took the lead on the field, playing 100 minutes at defense and the last four minutes on offense. Her short offensive display must make it difficult for the coaches, for despite being two-time all conference at center defender, she was highly effective at midfield, putting a team-leading two shots on goal and laying through several key passes for goal opportunities.

Lauren Ryan fulfilled well her role as offensive captain. She distributed the ball well, made several nice drives, and had a great opportunity for the game-winning goal on a breakaway shot that sailed high out of control.

Particularly strong on offense were red-shirt junior Taylor Powell (who missed last season) and Rachel Straun. Both were highly aggressive and constantly pushed and threatened the Griffin defense. Freshman Allyson Stainbrook was very impressive in the first 28 minutes of the game, catching the defense off guard on several occasions. Unfortunately, she missed the balance of the game. Perhaps she was sitting out with a mild injury? Freshman Kiley Godfrey also showed flashes of offensive genius up top.

At midfield, the Bengals were without the help of Ashley Jones who had to sit out this one game with a mild concussion. Freshman Laura Benson looked very effective at center mid. Her strong physical presence and effective ball distribution has set her up as a potential replacement for Anna Hofstetter. Freshman Tara Bice also played some excellent minutes at midfield. At times, several of the freshmen players looked more composed and well-adjusted on the field than several of the returning players who were occasionally missing passes and making poor decisions.

In the back, both Sophomore Morgan Olsen and Freshman Kelsea Godfrey were very impressive in the middle with Henage-Fisher. it will be interesting to see who captures that role long- term. It was great to she Lauren Hough back on defense. Despite recurring back problems, her talent and experience were evident as she contributed a highly effective 45 minutes. Junior Megan Stainbrook played her usual strong game at defensive wing, also making a couple of great offensive runs from that position. Especially impressive at defensive wing was Freshman Liv Zabka. She stood out as a player who will be a strong contributor on defense this season.

Both Junior Bailey Williams and Freshman Carly Hutchings looked very effective in goal. Hutchings made some great upfield passes and did a nice job of covering the back. For right now, Williams looks a little more composed in the box and would be my choice as starter. However, I imagine that Hutchings will give her a run for her money at that position.

Of course, there were other players who saw time in the game as every suited-up Bengal saw time on the field. But these were the players that stood out in my mind.

Of course, the coaching staff is going through the difficult process right now of having to decide which 18 players will make the traveling squad this weekend to Marquette and Loyola. Marquette will be an especially tough challenge for the Bengals opening game, as they barely missed the pre-season AP Top 25 (at about 30 in the poll.) Loyola gave Top 10 Texas A&M a run for their money last year, and did so without their top scorer and conference MVP, who will be back this year. So, we are facing a very tough road trip to start the season. But Coach should return with a strong idea of who will be the key contributors throughout the season and should be ready for a great year against the regional teams here in the Rocky Mountain West.

 

[bengallifer]

Where was Donya Oliveira for the exhibition game?

 

[soccerfanatic]

Donya Oliviera is off competing with the Portugeuse National Team. besides missing the exhibition game, she will also miss the Chicago trip this weekend.

Other bad news for this weekend. AJ (Ashley Jones,) who missed Monday's game while recovering from a mild concussion, is staying home this weekend to continue her recovery. Lauren Hough, who is still having severe back pain, is also not making the trip. Also, Allyson Stainbrook, who had a great showing in the first minutes of the game, left the game with a pulled quad, and she will not make the trip.

So Coach Gibson goes into a super tough weekend without two of her stars from last year and without two of her top freshmen. Of course, she is only able to take 18 on road trips, so she had some tough decisions to make anyway about who to take and who to leave.

I think our defense on this trip will be close to the lineup we will see all year, but we are still struggling to put our offense together. I saw two major weaknesses I saw on Monday. First, we were not completing our overlap runs (the players would pass the ball and continue downfield at a dead run, and rather than pass the ball back to the streaking player, the passer would turn into traffic and try to dribble.). Second, our offense was not getting back after an attack. Several times in the game, I saw our players make a nice attack, but when the ball was cleared to midfield, the midfielder would send it back into the box only to find that some of our players did not notice that the defense had pulled forward and they were still hanging around the box. On one occasion, I counted five of our players offside at the same time. These types of errors will be corrected with experience, and with more time playing together.

Anyway, not being at full strength, this trip will be an excellent opportunity for the girls to get some of the playing experience while under game pressure. I think they will have a great experience this weekend and return ready for the rest of e season.