The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) women’s soccer team dropped their home opener 3-0 against Minnesota Duluth in an NSIC matchup played at the UMC Soccer Field.
Minnesota Duluth dominated possession in the first half and it paid off in the final fifteen minutes of the opening frame. 30:26 into the match, Logan Nash (Jr., Vail, CO) headed a corner kick sent in by Lizzy Fontes (Sr., Apple Valley) gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. The lead doubled just over two minutes later when Minnesota Duluth worked forward quickly in transition allowing Julia Osborne (Fr., Plymouth) to turn around and lift a high-arching shot over UMC goalkeeper Olivia Puttin (Jr., Rogers) giving the Bulldogs a 2-0 halftime lead while outshooting UMC 14-2 through forty-five minutes. “It was the same mistakes as last year that plagued us,” said UMC head coach Joe Alianiello. “We’re a young team, but this is our fifth game now so that shouldn’t be an excuse. Their first goal on the corner kick was a miscommunication, the second goal we got caught out of position, but that really should’ve been a save. You can’t have those five-minute stretches in this league, where you switch it off for five minutes and still expect to stay in the game.”
In the second-half Minnesota Duluth scored one final goal when Hannah Caldwell (Fr., Prior Lake) tapped a cross into the net on a pass sent in by Destiny Schmitz (Sr., Farmington) to give the Bulldogs a 3-0. Minnesota Crookston failed to carry enough possession of the second half to fight back on the scoreboard as Minnesota Duluth closed out a 3-0 win with many reserves on the field. “They kind of emptied their bench in the second half and that made it a little more competitive, but these are teams we should be in with, but these are things we have to figure out.”
Minnesota Crookston remains without a goal since their season-opening match back on August 30, which the Golden Eagles head coach believes should change with UMC’s talent on the field. “I think our back line is pretty solid, it’s our midfield that we’re really struggling with right now, we’ve got to do a better job winning punts and goal kicks. We’ve got to be a little bit more aggressive and get possessions moving forward.”
The Golden Eagles fall to 0-5 overall and 0-2 in NSIC play. Minnesota Crookston returns to the pitch on Sunday when they host St. Cloud State at 1 p.m. Minnesota Duluth improves to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
|
1st |
2nd | Final | |
| Minnesota-Duluth | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| UMC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Scoring
30:26 – UMD – Logan Nash (Lizzy Fontes)
32:37 – UMD – Julia Osborne
49:04 – UMD – Hannah Caldwell (Destiny Schmitz, Julia Osborne)
