Women's soccer suffers season opening loss
Mike Vaught
Issue date: 8/31/09 Section: Sports
The Western Illinois women's soccer team lost its season opener at Butler Sunday by a score of 3-0, while Butler moved to 1-2 on the season and showed just how talented of a team they were.
"They have a lot of speed and are very well coached," said coach Tony Guinn. "Hopefully our girls can turn this into a positive experience and learn from it."
Butler's first goal of the match came off a corner kick in the 10th minute, when Bulldog midfielder, Abbie Kaul kicked in the rebound to put them ahead 1-0.
"The corner kicks played a really big factor in the outcome," Guinn said. "Butler was really good in the air and they had some great service on those corners and capitalized on one early.
Butler's second goal of the match came in the 18th minute when Rachel Melendez got another rebound off a shot to put the Bulldogs ahead 2-0. The team scored their third and final goal in the 49th minute, after Carrie Twyman of Butler received a pass and buried it in the net for her first goal of the season.
Despite the loss, the 'Necks' goalies put forth a solid effort on Sunday. Freshman goalkeeper Laura Atkinson started the match and played the first half while allowing two goals and stopping four shots. Meghan Tyk took over for her in the second half, allowing the one goal to go along with five saves.
"I thought Meghan and Laura both played pretty well today," Guinn said of his goalkeepers.
"Obviously going down 2-0 early on the road is never good, but they played well against a really good team today."
The 'Necks had just one shot on goal during the entire match compared to Butler's 13, and their best chance to score came from freshmen midfielder Miranda Graham in the 86th minute.
Graham got a one on one opportunity in the open field. However, her shot bounced off the post, and the game would end in a 3-0 shutout.
"If Miranda had been able to score it would have been a huge morale boost," Guinn said. "Unfortunately it just hit the post and those are the breaks sometimes in soccer."
The 'Necks head to Evansville, Indiana next Sunday to face Southern Indiana for their second game of the season, and Guinn was optimistic about their chances. "Hopefully we come away with a better result the next time we head to the state of Indiana."
"They have a lot of speed and are very well coached," said coach Tony Guinn. "Hopefully our girls can turn this into a positive experience and learn from it."
Butler's first goal of the match came off a corner kick in the 10th minute, when Bulldog midfielder, Abbie Kaul kicked in the rebound to put them ahead 1-0.
"The corner kicks played a really big factor in the outcome," Guinn said. "Butler was really good in the air and they had some great service on those corners and capitalized on one early.
Butler's second goal of the match came in the 18th minute when Rachel Melendez got another rebound off a shot to put the Bulldogs ahead 2-0. The team scored their third and final goal in the 49th minute, after Carrie Twyman of Butler received a pass and buried it in the net for her first goal of the season.
Despite the loss, the 'Necks' goalies put forth a solid effort on Sunday. Freshman goalkeeper Laura Atkinson started the match and played the first half while allowing two goals and stopping four shots. Meghan Tyk took over for her in the second half, allowing the one goal to go along with five saves.
"I thought Meghan and Laura both played pretty well today," Guinn said of his goalkeepers.
"Obviously going down 2-0 early on the road is never good, but they played well against a really good team today."
The 'Necks had just one shot on goal during the entire match compared to Butler's 13, and their best chance to score came from freshmen midfielder Miranda Graham in the 86th minute.
Graham got a one on one opportunity in the open field. However, her shot bounced off the post, and the game would end in a 3-0 shutout.
"If Miranda had been able to score it would have been a huge morale boost," Guinn said. "Unfortunately it just hit the post and those are the breaks sometimes in soccer."
The 'Necks head to Evansville, Indiana next Sunday to face Southern Indiana for their second game of the season, and Guinn was optimistic about their chances. "Hopefully we come away with a better result the next time we head to the state of Indiana."
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