Spring Season Underway For Women's Soccer
April 02, 2012 | Women's Soccer
April 2, 2012
SEATTLE - For the second year in a row, the Husky women's soccer team suffered a loss in their Spring season opener against Portland on Sunday afternoon.
Last year the game finished in dramatic fashion, with Portland winning on a penalty kick; this season, Portland used two quick goals shortly after the halftime break to secure the 2-0 victory.
Head coach Lesle Gallimore thought fatigue played a factor as the Huskies struggled to execute and had an uncharacteristic amount of unforced turnovers and poor clearances in the backfield. The team was fresh off finals and Spring Break, only having had five practices before this match. However, Gallimore doesn't believe that is an excuse.
"We can chalk it up to being "rusty" but that is not my take on it; at this level our players should almost always be able to technically execute regardless of the circumstance, particularly when they are not under pressure."
Moving forward, Gallimore wants to focus on continuing to improve the team's mental approach to competition, which she says begins with technically executing on the attacking side of the ball, as well as with organized and tough defending.
"Defensively we will continue to work on being better position by position, both physically and intellectually. We have to get stuck in more and impose ourselves on our opponents as well as know where, when and how we can win the ball."
Heading into their next match on April 21 against Seattle University--with the benefit of more consistent training--Gallimore is anticipating a vast improvement not only in the team's fitness, but the technical and tactical aspects of the game as well.
