After a big win against Chattanooga, the ETSU women’s soccer team came back into Summers-Taylor Stadium on Sunday to take on the Samford University Bulldogs.
The Bucs were looking for a winning result, but a few outside factors and short moments of weakness made the team fall 2-0 to the Bulldogs.
Looking at the benches, ETSU only had five players to sub as opposed to Samford’s lengthy bench of players.
However, both teams were scoreless at the end of the first half and ETSU goalkeeper Lee Ann Cutshall (Johnson City, Tennessee) made two very important saves to keep it that way.
The Bucs had two shots on goal in the first half, one coming from junior Eleonora Goldoni (Ferrara, Italy) and the other from freshman Maegan Sours (Erie, Colorado.).
Going into the second half, the playing field was even but Samford took advantage early and sent in two shots within minutes of another.
ETSU had no counter and left the match without a goal.
Head Coach Adam Sayers is proud of his team regardless of the outcome because they came in and did what they had planned to do.
“It was important, as it is with any game, that we develop a plan and a strategy to optimize our strengths and counter their strengths,” Sayers said. “And our team did that brilliantly.”
Sayers sees a lot of positives in coming out of this match, even if the result is not a “W” on the board. Going into the rest of the season, the team plans to take each game one at time.
“You approach each game as an individual contest,” Sayers said. “We have a style of play and a set of principles that we stick to regardless of the system of play or the formation.”
Their plan for Samford was different from the plan they have set for their match on Friday against University of North Carolina Greensboro, but the team continues to focus on the main principles and constantly run through that in all of their practices.
The Bucs barely fell short against Samford, and now they are focused on how best to attack their match on Friday against UNCG on the road.
