Bobcat Shootout tough on hosts

The GCSU soccer team was shut out twice this weekend at home for the Bobcat Shootout Tournament. These two defeats at home now give the Bobcats a record of 2-2 for the season.

GCSU’s first loss came Friday night against Catawba College with a score of 1-0. The only goal of the game came 16 minutes into the first half. Catawba’s forward Meritt Rollins lofted a very high ball over GCSU junior goalkeeper Jessica Binkowski which bounced off the far post into the net.

“We definitely didn’t play to our best potential,” Binkowski said. “The team at this point needs to work on settling down when we first get out there and not be so chaotic.”

For the remainder of the game, both teams continued to play well. Binkowski made three saves during the game and stopped Catawba from scoring again. Although the Bobcats played very aggressively on offense and defense, they were unable to score any goals, giving Catawba the 1-0 victory over the Bobcats.

“We had a lack of communication and a lack of possession,” senior defender Morgan Cobb said.

The Bobcats’ second loss came Sunday against Florida Tech as the Panthers shut out GCSU 3-0.

The Panthers were quick to take the lead over the Bobcats as Florida Tech’s Kelly Whitaker put the score at 1-0 just 3:34 into the first half. The Panthers struck again 20 minutes later as Alyssa Esposito earned Florida Tech a two-goal cushion to end the first half.

“They are very compact and move the ball very well,” sophomore defender Tawny Moffat said. “They knew where their next pass was going to go.”

At the start of the second half, the Bobcats’ play improved. They completed more crosses in the second half and created many more scoring opportunities. Even so, the Bobcats were unable to stop Whitaker of the Panthers from striking for a second time as a shot found its way into the Bobcats’ net in the final minute of the game, giving the Panthers a 3-0 lead.

“If anything, I think Friday’s game kind of helped us,” sophomore forward Megan McAlpin said. “We realized that we need to be mentally relaxed and we have to learn how to shake things off.”

Even though the Bobcats improved their game in the second half they were unable to score as the Panthers took the 3-0 shutout victory over the Bobcats.

“We knew this schedule was hard and we did that on purpose,” said head coach Juan Pablo Favero. “This is not a panic button time, this is time to work.”

The Bobcats are home again this weekend in the First Little Feet Invitational as they face Lincoln Memorial University on Friday at 8:30 p.m. and Carson Newman College on Sunday at 3:30 p.m.

“We defended the way we teach to defend, but it’s gotta be that way for 90 minutes,” Favero said. “Against these kind of opponents, it’s not good enough to do it for 45 minutes, it’s not good enough to do it for 80, it’s not good enough to do it for 89 minutes, we gotta do it for 90.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 11 2009. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry