The Chaminade women’s soccer team, with 10 new freshmen, was missing some of its older players due to sickness still had a good chance to beat Western Oregon on Saturday in the season opener at Saint Louis Field.
But after one bad break, Chaminade ended up with a tough 1-0 loss.
“I think it went really, really well,” said sophomore and midfielder Marissa Liberato from Colorado Springs. “We just got unlucky.”
It was a near miss for a team that has experienced just one win in the last two seasons combined. Even having some of their older players on the bench with sickness and injuries, Chaminade still played to win. The goal came by WOU in minute 79, which made it harder for CUH to come back in the game.
“Overall we are a very young team, so I think it went well,” said CUH coach Michelle Richardson. “There is a lot of things that we’re building on, and I think there’s a lot of positive progression we can take from the game. So I think of it as a positive step forward, but we have a few little mistakes that cost us the game. They are little mistakes or details that can really make a huge difference, unfortunately.”
This years team has 10 new players, but the team played well together and gave Western Oregon some though competition. Chaminade had 7 shots total with 4 on goal, and the opponents had 11 shots with 5 on goal, making it an even game.
“There’s always a time frame where there is some adjustment and getting used to one another, coming together,” Richardson said. “We’re still kinda working through that. When you have such a young team with such a large population of new players coming in, they need too understanding how we play, and our system of play. So, it just takes a little bit of working through, and this is just one of those steps we have to get through.”
Next up was the tough game against Hawaii Pacific University on Tuesday, Sept. 16, at Atherton Field at the HPU’s Hawaii Loa Campus. The Swords eventually ended up with another 1-0 loss.
CUH managed to keep the goal clean for 85 minutes until HPU junior forward Erika Ellis kicked in the ball, making the one and only goal in the game.
The first two games of the season have been very even games. CUH has only let in two goals so far this season, and they both came in the last minutes of the second period of both games.
The third game of the season is set to be on Saturday, Sept. 20, against Cal State East Bay at 4:30 p.m. at Pioneer Stadium in Hayward, Calif.
“We know what we need to work on,” said freshman Megan McClanahan, after the first game. “But overall I though everyone’s effort was there.”
Their next home game will be on Saturday, Oct. 4, against California Baptist at 3 p.m. at Saint Louis Field.
