Titans defeat Lake Forest, 4-1

(2007 IWU Women's Soccer Team photo)

First, let me apologize for the delay in posting this week. I spent most of yesterday watching video...of our game with Lake Forest and some footage of our next opponent, Wash U. I know there are several who check this regularly so I'll try to be more timely along the way :)

The game on Wednesday at Lake Forest was a significant improvement over our last performance versus Maryville. The 4-1 result was fair, considering we outshot the hosts 30-6 and hit the post twice. The score was level at 1-1 at halftime, although the hosts only had one good chance and caught us one time and unfortunately took us off stride for the final 15 minutes or so of the first half.

We opened the scoring in the 6th minute when two freshmen hooked up on the goal. Alyssa Feulner played a nice through pass to Carlie Hoekstra who hit a nice shot past the keeper for her first college goal. We opened the second half with a renewed focus in our attack and it showed in the results. The second IWU goal of the day was scored by Caroline Leighton, her 6th of the season, off another assist from Feulner. The final two goals of the day came from Elizabeth Sinclair, her first two of the year, in the 63rd and 68th minutes of the game to put the match on ice.

It was good that we were able to get this result. We had been struggling to find the target and create scoring chances for ourselves. The fact we took so many strikes at the goal hopefully is a sign that we have broken free of our attacking issues. At least I hope this is a positive sign given we have two important regional games coming up: first, at undefeated and nationally-ranked Washington University (#4 according to D3kicks.com and #10 according to the NSCAA), and then Loras College comes to Bloomington on Wednesday night. We have had tough games with each of these teams over the past few seasons and I certainly expect nothing less than the same in the next few days. At 4-2-1, we are reaching a critical stretch of games with about a third of the season now behind us, two crucial regional games and then the start of the conference season on the horizon. It will be important for us to keep getting better and hopefully get some good results over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned!

Go Titans!