09/12/09
Posted: 09/12/09

The UW-Eau Claire women’s soccer team fell in their home opener 4-2 on Saturday against Wheaton College (Ill.). After an offensive first half, when all six goals were scored, a defensive struggle ensued during a physical second period.

As soon as the game started, an intense pace was set as both teams tried to impose their will.

“We’ve been coming out really strong,” Coach Sean Yengo said. “We play the first 15-20 minutes really tough, we just need to make sure we build on that.”

Sophomore Rachel Nerison got the goal scoring started in just the eighth minute. She dribbled the ball up the left side before cutting the ball back inside past a defender. Once she got an opening, she pounded a shot near post that the Wheaton goalkeeper got a hand on, but couldn’t stop.

In the 18th minute Wheaton evened things up with a deep shot that was placed in the upper corner. The Blugolds had a chance for a clearance, but couldn’t get it out, and ended up paying the price by conceding a goal. From there, the goals seemed to flood into both nets.

On a corner kick six minutes later, Nerison added her second goal of the game. Junior Megan Hillesheim placed the corner kick by the near post as Nerison ran through traffic and headed it in for the goal.

“Megan (Hillesheim) played a great ball,” Nerison said. “The ball just came in and I said to myself, ‘This is it. I’ve got to put it in the goal.'”

Eau Claire seemed to have the advantage through the air all game with great passes from Hillesheim. With nine corner kicks and numerous free kicks, the Blugolds seemed to be inches away from connecting each time.

“I try to create goal scoring opportunities,” Hillesheim said. “I’m just trying to get the ball in at a good angle for them to run onto and attack the ball.”

Less than four minutes passed before Wheaton knotted things up a second time. After one of those Eau Claire corner kicks, the defense struggled to get back and Wheaton took advantage, evening the score at 2-2.

Wheaton continued to press and created counter attack in the 39th minute that the Blugold’s struggled to defend. A shot was ripped far post that sophomore goalkeeper Emily Kidd answered with a terrific save. However, the rebound trickled away, and a Wheaton forward came up to tap it in with Kidd still on the ground.

Just four minutes later, right before halftime, Wheaton got a breakaway chance and added to their lead as a shot rolled past Kidd’s outstretched arms.

At half the score was 4-2 and it remained the same for the rest of the game. Wheaton switched to a more defensive formation in the second half, and the Blugolds were unable to break through it.

“They (the team) were a little down (at halftime), so I had to try and lift their spirits a bit,” Yengo said. “I told them we scored two goals in the first half, and that we could get two more in the second, we just needed to keep at it.”

Although the offense was unable to cut into the Wheaton lead, the defense stepped up in the second half and played much stronger.

“We just talked about holding back from stepping to the ball too fast on d (defense),” said Hillesheim.

Yengo said he would have preferred the victory but thought that there were a lot of good things to take out of the game. He was especially proud of how hard the team fought the entire game, and how they came back to re-grab the lead. Yengo said he was impressed with the amount of offensive chances, especially against a superior opponent, and thought it was unlucky not to get another goal.

Nerison agreed, and thought the game almost seemed like a tie. She added that it should be a nice precursor to the rest of the season. The two goals by Nerison were her first of the season, and she is now tied for the team lead.

“We start conference play on Wednesday, so this was a big game for us,” Nerison said. “I thought we came together well as a team.”

Eau Claire falls to 1-2-1 after the loss and will play at UW-Stout for the conference opener on Wednesday.