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St. Cloud State University
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Soccer team sunk by MSU
By Drew Sandholm
Published:
Monday, October 27, 2003
Soccer is seemingly one of the only sports where a team can dominate the duration of a game and still wind up losing.
The SCSU soccer team witnessed this Saturday, as they lost to Minnesota State University-Mankato (MSU) in a 4-1 decision.
An ongoing rivalry between MSU and SCSU soccer was one contributor to the close play throughout the game.
Although having smashed SCSU last year in an 11-1 victory, head coach Chris Miskeg feared the dangerous potential the Huskies displayed this season.
"We were scared coming in," Miskeg said. "We had a lot to lose in this match, so we were really afraid we were going to play not to lose, instead of play to win. We knew they were a quality team, so we had to make sure that we had to pick it up and take care of business."
The SCSU offense danced around the net early on. Unable to score, SCSU spent much of their time in a passing game, which soon led to inevitable error. Demonstrating their defensive muscle, the Mavericks capitalized on every Husky mistake.
Fourth-year SCSU head coach Stephanie McGuinness made this realization and didn't underestimate the Mavericks' capabilities.
"If you give them an opportunity, they're going to finish. That's just the way they are," McGuinness said.
MSU went to work early on proving McGuinness' point. Maverick senior forward Amber Dusosky took control of the ball and ventured downfield with the help of junior Stacey McGuire. With the duo's assist to forward Danni Klinsing, MSU pounded out their first goal of the game at the six minute mark.
Now trailing by one, the Huskies' play remained as competitive as ever. However, the Huskies' ongoing attack didn't make for successful offensive productivity as SCSU went into halftime still trailing by one.
With plenty of soccer left and even play thus far, the game's outcome was still up for grabs. Whichever team came out of halftime with a greater sense of urgency for a win would seemingly prevail. MSU entered the second half with that sense in mind.
"At halftime, we knew we could step it up," Dusosky said. "We came together as a collective group and did what we needed to do."
In the first 10 minutes of the half, the Mavericks scored three goals. Dusosky put the Mavericks at a 2-0 lead at the 56-minute mark when she put a shot past SCSU goalie Stephanie Brendel. The Maverick team leading-scorer padded her stats to a hefty 14 goals for a combined 35 points this season.
Quickly following Dusosky's lead, Klingsing fired goal number three past Brendel at the 50-minute mark. Brendel ended up with 13 saves.
In the 47th minute, junior forward Kathleen Murphy had the game-winning point. Murphy would go on to exit Whitney Field with one goal and one assist for the game.
With her team down by four, McGuinness knew her team's potential was capable of much more. The Maverick's goals didn't reflect the Huskies intense play, though she didn't think that was an excuse for the numbers on the board.
"We gave them those opportunities," McGuinness said. "They finished and capitalized on the mistakes we made."
Although playing in a bitter fall cold, the Huskies still worked to bring on the heat late in the game.
A corner kick allowed senior midfielder Jennifer Ganser to put SCSU on the board. Her goal came with 3:46 left in the game and called for an intense Husky rally.
The SCSU offense thrust themselves down MSU's throat.
Several opportunities arose within the last few minutes, which could have altered the entire outlook of the game. With the ball literally at the mouth of the Maverick net, SCSU still wasn't able to execute a comeback.
Saturday's loss disappointingly drops SCSU's record to 6-8-3 overall and 1-2-2 for the NCC.
The Huskies will return to action for their final regular season game this Friday to host the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs at Whitney Field for a 2 p.m. match.
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