Soccer Showdown in Sioux Falls and St. Paul
The Minnesota State women’s soccer team takes its show on the road to Sioux Falls, South Dakota Friday to take on Augustana.
The Vikings, a conference rival, is coming off of a 0-0 draw against Fort Hays State.
“Augie is always a huge rivalry game for us and going over to play at their place is tough. They’re really good defensively and they’ll make it tough on us to score goals. They’ve got some weapons that can put the ball in the back of the net, so we’ll have to be ready to go, we’ll have to be at our best because that game is always a battle,” Bahl said.
The Mavs’ speed in the attack is something that they can use to punish the Vikings’ defense.
“I think our pace is something that is growing into something I think not many teams have seen. I think our pace is very good. I think it’s at a very high level. I think defensively as well we’ve shown that we’ve been very solid collectively as a group. My hope is that we can go there, shut them down from the defensive side of things, create a lot of chances, hopefully put a lot of balls in the back of the net,” Bahl said.
Last time out, the Mavericks were handed a 1-0 loss by Grand Valley State. The Mavs were called for a handball that led to a penalty kick for the Lakers in the 73rd minute. Lakers’ defender Kacy Lauer buried a penalty kick that turned out to be the winning goal.
Despite the losing effort, head coach Brian Bahl thought his team did a lot of things well.
“That is really unfortunate how that game ended on Sunday. You know coming down to a PK like that, just kind of a bummer because I thought we competed well enough to win the game. I thought we did a lot of good things. Created a lot of chances. I thought we defended the heck out of them. Limited them to pretty basic chances, nothing of real high quality. So overall, it was a really good day,” Bahl said.
The Mavs’ lack of quality in the final third is what Bahl believes is the reason for them not getting on the scoreboard.
“Final execution in the final third of the field. I think that’s an area of weakness for us right now. We’re creating or getting the chances, we’re just not able to execute there. As we continue to grow and develop, I think that’ll hopefully become a strength for us. If it does, I think we’ll see the ball go on the back of the net a lot,” Bahl said.
After the Augustana match, the Mavs conclude their two-game road stint when they travel to St. Paul, Minnesota Sunday to take on Concordia University St. Paul.
Bahl praised his team’s leaders for their roles with helping the younger players stay the course when they travel.
“Our leadership has been great on this team. We’ve got a few fifth years and quite a few other seniors. Even our younger players. It’s helped keep everybody in check. I think it’s a big part of the reason we’ve been able to be successful here early on this season,” Bahl said.
Header Photo: Four games into the regular season, the Mavs sit at 2-1-1 and take on the no. 15 ranked Augustana Vikings and the Concordia St. Paul Golden Bears to hopefully add two more tallies to the win column. (Dalton Grubb/The Reporter)
Write to Mohamed Warsame at mohamed.warsame@smsu.edu