09/05/09
Posted: 09/06/09

For the second straight game, regulation time wasn’t enough to find a result for UW-Eau Claire’s women’s soccer team.

Instead, the team was forced to play two 10-minute extra periods that ended up in a stalemate. After the long struggle, the Blugolds came away with a 0-0 tie Saturday against St. Benedict (Minn.).

Although the game didn’t go exactly as Eau Claire would have liked, senior Sam Krueger thought the team looked better than it did in its previous bout.

“I think today we definitely improved since our last game,” Krueger said. “We were really aggressive and just couldn’t finish in their third of the field. We put up a good fight.”

In the first half, Eau Claire came out of the gates fast by pounding away 10 shots to St. Benedict’s two. The second half mirrored with similar results: the Blugolds ripped eight more, and the Blazers were unable to come up with any.

Despite the stat sheet reflecting 13 saves for the St. Benedict keeper, Krueger thought the blank slate was aided by Eau Claire.

“They (Eau Claire’s shots) just didn’t really challenge her (the St. Benedict goalie),” Krueger said. “All of them just seemed to go right to her in the center of the goal.”

Freshman Shyla Gilbertson led the offense with five shots, four of which were on goal. Sophomore Lisa Marco had three shots, while nine other players added at least one.

In the previous game Eau Claire conceded a goal late in regulation, giving up a lead they had nearly the entire game. Krueger and junior Gina Christenbury both acknowledged that the team looked different in the waning minutes of that game, so the players had it on their minds near the end of this one.

“At halftime we talked about it,” Christenbury said. “One of our goals was no letdowns and no mental breaks because that’s how St. Thomas (the game before) got away from us.”

In spite of not coming away with victories in either overtime game, Krueger thought there were some positives to take out of consecutive games that went into extra time.

“Mentally and physically you are fatigued at the end of the game, and then you have 10 more minutes to play,” Krueger said. “So it definitely will help us with our fitness, but also mentally to keep our heads in the game and to never give up until the very last minute.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Emily Kidd was tested only once, but she came up with the stop and earned her first career shutout.

The 15th-ranked Blugolds are now 0-1-1 with the draw, and they look to pick up their first win on Wednesday at Augsburg (Minn.).