The Club Soccer team was defeated with a dominating performance from the ETSU men’s soccer team Saturday. The final score was 5-0.
This match allowed the club team to evaluate its current status physically and tactically.
The Club Soccer team is a new edition to the sports clubs on campus and is looking to begin its first season in the fall.
The match began with the club retaining fair possession and repelling ETSU attacks for the first 10 to 15 minutes.
About halfway through the first half, though, it became obvious that conditioning was a strong factor in this match. The university team was able to outrun most of the club team later in the first half.
All of the university team’s goals were scored during the first half.
The first strike glanced off the left post and ended up in the side netting on the right side.
This goal started an increase in offensive pressure from the university team that held until halftime.
The second goal was almost identical to the first except for the location of the shot.
While the first goal was taken from the left side of the 18-yard box, the second was struck from about 20 yards out and from the middle of the field. The ball bounced off the left frame into the right side netting.
Shots like that can be almost unstoppable so credit can be given to the shooters.
The club team was having some problems organizing its defense properly so that it could close down on approaching dribblers.
The third goal occurred from a breakdown in defensive communication as the university team was able to slot a pass right through the center of the defense and the play was finished with a shot to the keeper’s right.
The other two goals occurred in much the same fashion, with ETSU breaking down the club defense until space opened up and player was able to put a shot on frame.
Almost all of the university team’s shots were on target and ended up as goals.
As halftime finished and the second half began, it was obvious that three factors were key to the university team’s success over the club.
The Bucs were excellent at patiently passing the ball around until an opportunity presented itself, communication was a problem for the club team, and the university team had the ability to constantly switch and pass the ball to the wings, which stretched the club team thin and tired them out.
With those observations being made, the club team made a few changes and were able to keep ETSU from scoring any more points.
The club team was presented an opportunity to score midway through the second half in the form of a penalty kick.
One of the club forwards was pressing into the 18-yard box on one of the club’s rare attacking phases when he was shoved off the ball and it was dubbed a penalty.
The referee pointed to the spot and the club team prepared to score their first ever goal.
However, the left post denied the club team as the penalty kick went booming off the post and back into play.
The match ended, 5-0, and the club team was able to take away several pointers and an idea of what it can do to strengthen the team for its debut season.
