Story by Austin Cannon
Photo by Joel Venzke
More early season bad luck plagued the Drake University women’s soccer team in a 0-1 loss to South Dakota State University (SDSU) on Friday night at Cownie Soccer Complex.
The Bulldogs had many close chances in the first half but could not convert. Failing to keep up the momentum, Drake came out a little slow in the second half and conceded the majority of ball possession to the Jackrabbits.
Drake consistently put pressure on the SDSU back end throughout the first half, tallying five shots in the period.
SDSU’s Diana Potterveld scored the game’s only goal in the 53rd minute. She received a pass from Delany Ratcliffe at the top of the box and lifted a shot that dipped under the Drake crossbar, inches over the outstretched glove of goalkeeper Andrea Swanson.
Head coach Lindsey Horner thought her team had chances to take the lead early.
“We were all over them to start the game, and should have been up halftime. When we don’t finish our chances when we have the run of play, the game gets that much harder when the momentum swings,” Horner said in a Drake athletics press release.
Senior midfielder Brittany Schuling was searching for answers.
“In the first half, I think we won every first and second ball, and that’s what we have to do. And I don’t know, it just didn’t go our way in the second half,” Schuling said.
Paige Dusek, Rebecca Rodgers and Ashlie Stokes all nearly scored, but none of them came as close as freshman Kayla Armstrong.
In the 24th minute, Armstrong received the ball off a deflection to the right of the goal and ripped a shot on goal. The ball nailed the bottom of the crossbar and ricocheted straight down and eventually bounced out of danger.
It was just another agonizingly close call for the winless Bulldogs.
“It’s frustrating. We just can’t get anything to go our way. (It) seems like other teams are just getting lucky and we just can’t make our own luck right now,” Stokes said.
Stokes led the Bulldogs with five shots on the night.
Schuling echoed her teammate’s sentiment.
“We just can’t buy any luck,” Schuling said.
Even after another setback, Stokes was still confident in the team moving forward.
“Once we click, we’ll get going and start winning games,” Stokes said.
