Losses in two Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) games last week knocked the Lakeland women’s soccer team down to ninth place in the standings, and out of contention to make the conference tournament.
With just eleven players on the roster, the women lost 5-0 to first place Aurora Oct. 24 in Chicago.
Aurora substituted liberally and scored in the 25th and the 32nd minutes to take a 2-0 advantage going into halftime.
“They had more than 20 girls on their roster and kept bringing players in to keep the tempo up,” women’s soccer coach Tony Pierce said. “I still thought we were doing okay even though we didn’t generate a ton of opportunities.”
The Spartans dominated possession and netted more goals in the 55th, 79th, and 88th minutes.
Lakeland played without junior forward Lindsay Rogers, who injured her knee on Oct. 19 against Maranatha. Rogers has been a centerpiece in the Muskie attack this season with nine goals.
“Not having a player like her in our lineup hurts. She’s a scoring threat because of her energy and work ethic. Her absence allowed Aurora to continue to push up on us, and had she been in the game, they would have had to back off and give her respect,” Pierce said.
The Spartans bombarded Ashley Sarbacker with 58 shots in the match, forcing the freshman goalkeeper to make a career-high 22 saves. Aurora won all ten of the game’s corner kicks on a day when the Muskies failed to register a single shot.
Lakeland gave up two early goals en route to a 2-1 loss to Maranatha Baptist Oct. 19 at home.
Senior Elise Jones scored off a free kick in the third minute and sophomore Karis Rogers added the second goal in the 14th minute to put the Crusaders up 2-0.
“We started out a bit slow and gave them a two goal lead, which hurt us,” Pierce said.
Lindsay Rogers pulled one back in the 39th minute and the Muskies generated 15 shots in the match, but could not equalize.
“In the second half we created a ton of opportunities to finish, but we just couldn’t. We were knocking on the door all day and it was frustrating, but the girls played extremely well and expelled a lot of energy to try to get the tie or the win, but it wasn’t our day,” Pierce said.
Rogers drew a penalty early in the first half, but junior midfielder Kristina Borts skied the shot into the catch net and the Crusaders retained their 2-1 lead.
“If she had made it, the score would have been 2-2 going into the half,” Pierce said. “It really would have been a huge emotional boost and [could have] changed the game.”
Sarbacker turned away six Crusader shots in the match.
Pierce said he gives the team “all the credit in the world for battling and staying positive” in a year plagued by low numbers. He added that a big recruiting class next fall will be important if the program is to improve.
“The last two years, the women involved in the program have had no relief. It would be nice to get some numbers in the program for them to be able to take much-needed rests during games,” said Pierce. “If we added four more players this year it would have made a world of difference. The core of the girls just keeps plugging along, and if we can add to that core that will improve the program.”