Streak over

The Lady Flames women’s soccer team (4-4) snapped a four-game win streak in their 1-0 loss to the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (4-4) at Osborne Stadium Sept. 16.

“Their overall pressure just put us under pressure and made us uncomfortable,” Liberty Head Coach Nate Norman said.

The Eagles applied great defensive pressure, not allowing the Lady Flames to get into any type of a rhythm.

“They had very good high pressure,” Liberty mid-fielder Abigail Persson said. “Anytime we had the ball on our back line, they were right there ready to press us.”

In the opening 10 minutes, Liberty lined up two chances to score.

FOCUS — Emma Pirro dribbled through the FGCU defense on her way down the field.   Photo credit: Caroline Sellers

FOCUS — Emma Pirro dribbled through the FGCU defense on her way down the field. Photo credit: Caroline Sellers

Sixty-one seconds into the game, junior forward Isabella Habuda’s shot from the goal line flew wide.

Farrell, the reigning two-time Big South Freshman of the Week, dazzled the crowd by creating separation and firing a shot from 10 yards out that went right into the hands of Eagles goalie Melissa Weck.

The FGCU pressure allowed the Eagles to speed up the game in their favor.

“They played a lot of good through balls,” Farrell said. “They got a lot of speed up there. All around, they had a great team and a great offense.”

That offense enabled the Eagles to take more than double Liberty’s total shots at senior goalkeeper Holly Van Noord.

The goalkeeper moved to second on Liberty’s all-time save list with 341 saves by saving five more goals in the match

Eagles senior forward Tabby Tindell was all over the field during the game for the Eagles.

In the 77th minute, she capitalized on a pass from senior midfielder Paulina Speckmaier with nothing but green in front of her, netting a goal from 10 yards out to put the Eagles ahead.

“To be blunt, (Tindell) is a special player, and she gave us problems all day long,” Norman said.

“She made big plays, and eventually one of those big plays resulted in a goal.”

“Every loss, you’ve got to find a way to learn from the lessons,” Norman said. “Teams cause different problems. This team certainly caused a few. We got to figure out how we don’t let another team do that to us.”

Norman’s message echoed out to his team.

“He told us to pick ourselves back up,” Persson said. “We have to remember what we learned through it and remember it for the next game.”

Norman hopes his team can stay motivated and focused for the Lady Flames next test waiting in Richmond, Virginia against the High Point Panthers Saturday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m.

Collier is a sports reporter.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *