After Battling to 1-1 Tie in First Half of Play, Hornets Fall by Eventual 4-1 Score in Extremely Physical Game at Aquinas College
September 12, 2006
|
After Battling to 1-1 Tie in First Half of Play, Hornets Fall by Eventual 4-1 Score in Extremely Physical Game at Aquinas College September 12, 2006 |
Despite entering halftime at a 1-1 deadlock, the Kalamazoo College women's soccer team suffered through a 9-minute period early in the second half during which 3 goals were scored, eventually dropping a hard-fought battle at NAIA Aquinas College (MI) on Tuesday 9/12 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. With the loss, the Hornets fall to 2-2-0 (0-0 MIAA) on the season.
Immediately at the opening of the game, Aquinas demonstrated that its style of play was an incredibly high-pressure game, defensively. As such, the Hornets had a good deal of trouble possessing the ball, while Aquinas worked hard to double down on the ball each time it changed hands. This caused Kalamazoo to get locked into its own end of the field for the first 10+ minutes, and resulted in the Hornets giving up numerous early-game shots. The Saints got on the board in the 13th minute of play, when a short pass into the right side of Kalamazoo's 18-yard-box freed up one of Aquinas's outside midfielders. She took an almost-point-blank shot from less than 10 yards out, and beat Hornet goalkeeper Kassie Johnston to the right to go up 1-0.
A visibly shaken Kalamazoo squad attempted to regain its composure following the Saints' goal, but the physicality on the field began to escalate. "Aquinas has a very talented, big, strong, fast team," said Hornets Head Coach Laura Passage. "Early in the game, the physical nature of their game was a shock to our players, and we didn't adjust well. As the game progressed, however, the referee had let a lot of the physical play go--which I don't disagree with, typically--but unfortunately it set a tone whereby Aquinas continued to escalate their physical game."
Kalamazoo got on the scoreboard in the 36th minute, when junior forward Aliza Caplan scored an unassisted goal from just outside the Saints' 18-yard-box. Shortly thereafter, the Hornets suffered a huge loss when freshman forward Jaime Franks--having just entered the game--collided with a Saints player and injured her knee. She left the game just before halftime, and did not return. Midway through the second half, Caplan sustained a similar injury when she slid to reach a ball and was impacted from the side by a Saints player in a late tackle. She also left the game and did not return.
"To watch your team sustain two potentially-season-ending knee injuries in a single game is tough," said Passage, "and I would have liked to have seen more attention paid to protecting the players on the field, on the part of the referee. Particularly in a game where our team was out-fouled by an almost 3-1 margin." [Kalamazoo was out-fouled 10-2 in the second half alone; 14-5 for the game]
Aquinas scored 3 goals in less than a 10 minute span early in the second half to secure the win. The game-winner was scored just minutes into the second half, unassisted from about 10 yards out off a rebounded shot. The final two goals added insurance for the Saints, who improve to 5-2-0 so far in 2006.
The Hornets will play again on Monday 9/18 (4:30pm) at home, when they play host to Rochester College (MI) at MacKenzie Field.