BOONE, N.C. — A fantastic preseason crowd came out to see Appalachian State University women's soccer play Western Carolina to a deadlock for 87 tough minutes before a late goal set the final score 1-0 on Thursday evening at the Appalachian Soccer Stadium at the Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex.
“We were looking for chemistry on the field and creative movement off the ball and obviously looking to create chances and I thought we did all of those things,” head coach Sarah Strickland said. “We didn't finish the chances that we had, I feel like we could have put several goals away if we framed the back post, but definitely we showed that we can attack from a lot of different directions and personnel. And the other part of that is trying to look at our lines and see if we can connect through the lines and not just play from one to the next and I thought we were successful in that.”
“I thought we played really great soccer for about 87 minutes,” Strickland continued. “And for about three minutes, we struggled for a little bit and Western's known for their setpieces, that's how they score goals. They're a good team. It's how they scored in the exhibition and beat us last year so we know that and we know to expect that and I'm definitely looking forward to looking at it on film and seeing what went wrong as opposed to what we think went wrong.”
In the first of two exhibitions to start this preseason, the Mountaineers came out looking ready to set the tone for the 2016 season and, for much of the match, did just that.
Appalachian finished with 21 shots (11 in the first half) and finished with an advantage in possession, while the Catamounts finished with five shots. Sam Steyl played the entire 90 for App State in the net and made three key saves to fight off the Western Carolina attack, whenever it made the advance.
With five shots on goal, the Mountaineers had plenty of chances, but couldn't quite find a groove on the shots, sending them often
Then, in the 88th minute, the Catamounts had a corner kick that went straight into a swarm of bodies. But the set-piece worked and off the hard bouncing rebound of a whiffed kick, WCU's Kyla Moncrief headed the ball into the net for the game-winning goal.
New Kids on the Block
Newcomers Marnie Bonn, Kristin Brown, Sharon Osterbind and Maggie Hanusek all made appearances for App State in their first collegiate contest with another team, with Hanusek getting called on to start.
The four battled hard and played well, both on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. Hanusek finished the match with a shot on goal and two shots total for the day, while Osterbind had two shots as well.
Looking Forward
The Mountaineers will train tomorrow before heading into their second and final exhibition of the preseason. Appalachian hosts longtime SoCon rival Elon at noon on Saturday at the Appalachian Soccer Stadium at the Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex.
