|
Scoring woes hurt SCSU
Huskies have only scored 20 goals this season compared to their opponents who’ve pumped in 60
The Thanksgiving break kicked off a six-game road trip for the SCSU women’s hockey team. There wasn’t much for SCSU to be thankful for hockey- wise as they were swept by Ohio State in two games, 6-0 and 6-4, respectively.
Head coach Jason Lesteberg felt his team didn’t play a full 60 minutes of hockey and had a few mental lapses during both games, a theme that has been popular throughout the entire season.
“We need to start working hard, which will draw penalties, but we didn’t do that well last weekend,” Lesteberg said.
Lesteberg stated that his team, during both games, resorted back to the theories of “pond hockey.”
“We got lackadaisical, tried cute stuff, caused turnovers and here they came flying down our throats,” Lesterberg said. “If you do that at any level of hockey, you’re going to be in trouble.”
Lesteberg went on to say that he felt his team had a lack of intensity and that there were periods where they were beaten on both sides of the puck. He also felt that his team was ready for the two games, but said SCSU is too relaxed.
“It’s my job to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he said.
One of the biggest problems the Huskies have had through 13 games is that they haven’t had much offensive output. So far the team has only scored 20 goals, while opponents have pumped in 60 goals.
One reason why the Huskies are having offensive problems is because junior forward Roxy Stang is in a scoring slump. Last season Stang amassed 33 points (24 goals and nine assists). This season, she has a total of three points (one goal and two assists). But along with that, senior forward Abby Cooper is picking up some of the slack. Cooper has five points (four goals and one assist). In addition, the Huskies third leading scorer last season, junior captain Kobi Kawamoto, missed the first seven games of this season with a broken leg.
Sophomore transfer Carrie Holldorf has given the Huskies some spark thus far. She leads the team with nine points (two goals and seven assists). Holldorf has already surpassed her assist total from last season, when she played for Providence College where she had five in 19 games.
Coupled with that, sophomore forward Melanie Pudsey is tied with Cooper for the team lead for goals scored. Through 10 games, Pudsey has already matched her statistics from last season. Freshman Krista Simonson has also been a good addition to the team. She has amassed three goals and two assists in her first year as a Husky.
Another first-year player that has really stepped up for St. Cloud is Ashley Stewart. Stewart leads all Husky first-year players with six points. Both goals were also the game winners that gave the Huskies two of their three wins. Stewart was named WCHA Rookie of the Week in early November for her outstanding play.
“I think a lot of our younger players are stepping up,” Lesterberg said. “They’ve been asked to do a lot and they’re performing really well. Some of our sophomores are really playing well. We’re obviously pleased with where they’re at.”
Lesteberg said that he felt he needed to get those players that were playing well, consistently on that level, and get the rest of the team to play on that level.
Another area that has hurt the Huskies is their play on the road. SCSU has gone 1-7, giving the phrase “there’s no place like home” a valid meaning.
“We do have a tough schedule. We’re in the midst of a six-game road trip and anytime you play a WCHA team, no matter who it is, every team is good,” Lesteberg said.
Looking to this weekend, St. Cloud takes their 3-10 record to Duluth to play No. 2 University of Minnesota-Duluth. In the past, SCSU has played UMD very tough. Lesteberg hopes to play the Bulldogs the same way this time out.
“They’re a team that’s flying high and we’re not,” Lesteberg said. “But we need to get our confidence back and believe that we can do anything that we set our mind to. We need to go out there and play hard and create opportunities for ourselves.”
|
|
|
|
Privacy Policy Network Advertising Article Syndication
|
|
