Jesse Murray
Staff Writer
The women’s soccer team hosted Cumberland University (Lebanon, Tenn.) on Wednesday, falling short to the Bulldogs 1-0.
Cumberland took the lead in the 63rd minute on a goal scored by Helena Dimantas Farias. In what was a closely fought match, both teams recorded eight shots on goal, and Lions’ keeper Stephanie Gagnon, a freshman, recorded seven saves for the match.
This loss puts the Lions’ season record at .500 going into their final regular season home game, which will be Saturday against Milligan (Tenn.) College.
“Yesterdays game was a tough match,” said senior Chelsey Morris, team captain. “I thought we worked really hard, and I definitely think it prepared us a little more for Saturday’s upcoming game… Milligan is currently one of the top teams in the conference, so, I expect a hard match. It is always fun to play them because they always work hard and put up a good battle.”
Lady Lions’ Coach Mark Sauve said, “I thought that we played well; unfortunately we came up on the losing end of a pretty evenly played match… From a coaching perspective I watch for the technical as well as the tactical aspects of the match. We were not impressive with the technical part of the match, only completing 69% of our passes.”
Sauve said that he changed the Lions’ formation on Tuesday, one day before the match, leaving players in positions that they had not played all year. He suggested that despite this, the new formation seemed to work well.
“Although we didn’t score, we created a few opportunities,” said Sauve.
“We are struggling right now,” Sauve said, “but I feel that if we can put all aspects of the game together we could put a little run together in the tournament just like we did last year.”