On August 28th we took a three hour road trip to Danville to play our first "official" game of the 2009 season. Last year we lost to Danville 4-1 and 2-1. Needless to say we were wanting to go to Danville and get a win this year.
The game stared the way we wanted it. Thad Snell put in a goal on a breakaway from the left side at the 15 minute mark. We were looking good. Our possession game was exceptional, and we were putting good pressure on the ball. But after our first goal we hit a lull, and we didn't see much production although we had some good chances to score. Danville put in their first goal late in the first half. It was a 30 yard shot from midfield after a rebound from the penalty area. So, at half time it was 1-1. Not exactly what I was hoping for at half time, but it wasn't a bad effort.
In the second half Neil Houlihan found the back of the net on a breakaway. His goal put us up 2-1 and that's the way it stayed until the 80th minute. They scored from the midfield again after a poor effort on our part to clear the ball. Their second goal should have never been. Our boys seemed to dig down a little bit after that tieing goal. We had some very good chances to go ahead. Three breakaways were foiled by a good effort on the Keeper.
Disappointed, not angry, was a good description of me after the game. I felt like we had the advantage in speed, and talent. I'm not making excuses for the game, but the officiating was sub par for collegiate soccer. Even the opposing coach agreed with me after the game about the sub par officiating. BUT officiating did not lose the game for us. We just simply failed to finish on the ample opportunities that we had. If we would have made half of the breakaways that we had, the score would have been 5-2. Hopefully, we'll do a better job at finishing next week at our three home games.
This was a good test for us. It humbled us a little. I think the boys went into this match thinking that we would be able to do to Danville what we did to Williams Baptist. Hopefully we have learned to not take any game for granted.
Next week is a busy week with three home games. We play Lindenwood University at Belleville and I don't know a thing about them. So we will prepare for them like they are an excellent team and hopefully have a good showing on our home pitch. Kaskaskia is our opponent on Wednesady. They are a new program like us, and that should be a pretty even match. Heartland comes to the Lake on Saturday. They will be a tough opponent. Last year we played them a close game on a small field, but at the end of the season we played them on a different field and they handed it to us. I think we'll give them a little better game this year.
In the end 1-0-1 isn't a bad start, could be better, but it could be worse.
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