College of Charleston
Iowa
Women's Soccer Drops Physical Contest to Iowa
9/11/2010 1:59:00 AM | Women's Soccer
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - The College of Charleston women's soccer team fell, 2-0, in its first match of the College of Charleston Tournament to Iowa at Patriots Point on Friday evening.
The Cougars (2-4-0) played the Hawkeyes (5-1-0) evenly but were unable to get on the scoring sheet in the game. The win extended the Hawkeyes' winning streak to five games.
CofC outshot Iowa, 13-12, and forced Hawkeye goalkeeper Emily Moran to make four saves. Katie Tate (Piedmont, S.C.) went the distance in goal for the Cougars and registered two saves of her own.
"Iowa is a great team and all credit goes to those guys for coming in here and playing a tough match," said head coach Christian Michner. "I told their coach I think that's the best team we've played all season. On the other side of it, I think that's the best we've played all season too."
The Cougars controlled the early pace but the Hawkeyes deflated CofC's attack when they scored on the first shot of the game in the eighth minute. Jade Grimm controlled the ball in the box near the goal line and slipped a pass back to a charging Alyssa Cosnek who one-touched the ball past a diving Tate.
Cosnek threatened again moments later when she made a long run through the left center of the field. She connected with a streaking Dana Dalrymple who ripped a shot but Tate rose to the attack with a brilliant one-handed save.
The goal fueled the Hawkeyes' momentum and they spent the majority of the remaining first-half minutes on the attack.
In roughly the 25th minute, the Cougars upped the aggression and returned the match into their offensive third of the field. CofC produced several quality chances down the stretch in the first half.
The Cougars actually controlled a 6-4 shot advantage going into the intermission but still trailed on the scoreboard, 1-0.
The second half was highly physical and played mostly in the middle third of the field. The teams exchanged runs and attacks but neither team could solve the opposition's keeper.
The Hawkeyes countered a CofC scoring opportunity in the 80th minute to create a four-on-three odd-man rush the other way. Iowa used some creative passing to get through the Cougar defense until Leah DeMoss was able to boot the ball into the net to extend the Hawkeye lead to 2-0.
The late goal thwarted CofC's attempt to even the match. The Cougars did rally a few more late chances but to no avail.
The Cougars will play one more match in the College of Charleston Tournament against Presbyterian on Sunday, Sept. 12 at 3 p.m.
"We had some great things come out of it and we defended well but we took another one on the chin," said Michner. "A couple of lapses defensively and we gave up two goals just like that. Honestly, I'm happy with where my team is. We're taking steps forward and it was certainly an even game."
