Stephen F. Austin
UT-San Antonio
SFA takes down UTSA in its Home Opener
9/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Ladyjacks christened the home field for the new season with a win on Sunday night. SFA played a very aggressive game scoring two goals in the first period, and then tacking on one more after a nail biting second half that gave UTSA a toe hold in the game.
Sophomore Crystal Calvit was the star of the night making her first career goal tonight in the 44th minute. Her fellow teammates junior Madison Hall drew her first season goal and senior Hailey Hunt connected her second goal for the season. Goalkeeper redshirt junior Lillie Ehlert was credited with the win after spending 54 minutes in the net and taking 4 saves.
Stephen F. Austin was ready to attack in the first minutes of the game. Junior Hannah Barker quickly found the feet of Hunt to put the first score on the board for SFA in the first 42 seconds of the game. The Ladyjacks outshot UTSA in the first half putting up 8-3 shots. Then, the icing on the cake was at the 44:51 mark when Calvit’s ball found its way into the back of the net for the 2-0 lead going into the half.
The pressure kept coming from the Ladyjacks as they started the second half. In the 47th minute Hall took control from a free kick from senior Brooke Dunnigan and sent it flying through the top left corner of the net past the goalie’s reach. UTSA began to rally after the 57th minute scoring two goals within seven minutes making the game a little more nerve racking, but the Ladyjacks held tight to their lead.
UTSA took over in shots finishing the night with 17 shots over SFA’s 14. The Ladyjacks goalkeepers Ehlert and sophomore Allyson Smith cradled the ball six times tonight, Ehlert with four saves and Smith with two.
SFA will be back in action on the road next week against Texas State. The match is set for Sept. 9th at 7:00 p.m. CT.
Post Game Quotes:
On the momentum in the second half: UTSA’s a really good team, and they’re scoring a lot of goals this year. They’ve got a good attacking scheme which I think we managed well in the first half. As we went into the second half, they made a couple changes. As we move through the season our in-game learning needs to be a little better. I would’ve liked if we shifted our numbers better in the middle. Ultimately though it’s just great to be on our field. It’s great to get practices on a full width field. We’ve faced a lot of adversary because of the weather as a lot of teams have. So for me, it’s about our ability to compete, to fight, to grind the game out. We’ll get better. Our spacing and our timing will get better. But [UTSA] is a very good team, and they will have a very good year as they have so far. I’m excited to see what they do as they move forward.
On the takeaways from tonight’s game: First and foremost, just to get out on the field to play. That sounds simple, but it’s a big deal as we’ve had to deal with the adverse weather. That’s a good team, and they’ll challenge us in ways that will prepare us for our conference games. We’ve had to play Oregon and Oregon State last weekend on the road where we competed well. I think we played better tonight. There will come a time where we focus on conference and what games can decided a championship, but now it’s about playing the best we can and getting better every 45 minutes. From a soccer experience standpoint, we’re a better team than when we started the game. From an in-game learning standpoint, that’s a big piece I’d like to see us improve as we move forward.
On any key player performances: Well, we went deep into our roster which is good. Some of our upper classmen had great performances; Baily Bosley and Brooke Dunnigan from a physicality standpoint, then our goal scorers, and Crystal Calvit. I’m not sure the distance on that goal; maybe 30 or 35 yards. Madison Hall with the fantastic goal as well. Scoring in the first minute and starting fast was something we really wanted to focus on after last weekend. Lot of good performances, but as a whole we have to get a little bit better. And we will.
On how it felt to get an early lead: It’s definitely good because they’re put in a position where they have to chase the game. Then, when we sealed off the second and third one I thought we were in a really good position to manage the game going down the stretch. You always want to score [goals] when you can. To be fair, I think we had a couple other opportunities that would have put the game out of reach. That’s something we’ll talk about, but any time you score a goal in the first minute to make the other team chase the game on the road is a big advantage you can have going down the stretch.
-SFA-
