A win’s a win.
This overused cliché sounds so simple, but for the Oswego State Lakers women’s soccer team at times during the first half it really didn’t look it.
The team came out a bit sluggish to start the game as Clarkson University hit the crossbar twice in the first half and were out playing the Lakers badly throughout much of the first half. Clarkson held possession, looked much sharper and had much more energy than the Lakers at the start of this game. The Golden Knights also out shot the Lakers 3-1 at the end of the first half. This is something that head coach Brian McGrane didn’t take lightly in his comments after the game.
“When we come out with a lot of energy and you’re into it and ready to go we can play with any team, but when you have any drop off what so ever your going to look like a JV team out there,” said McGrane. “For that first half they played with a lot of energy we didn’t. We were fortunate not to be down 3 or 4 nothing. We can certainly kiss the posts and be thankful the score wasn’t as bad as it looked on the field. When you’re playing with good effort and good energy you’re in every game. We have the athletes, we have the complete players that can play, it’s just a matter of they have to play.”
The Lakers helped themselves and turned their fortunes around as their play dramatically improved in the second half compared to the first. Coach McGrane credits the improved defensive play for the team being able to climb back in the game and eventually get the one and only score of the game.
“Defensively we weren’t keeping in front of them in the first half and that is something that we talked about and did in the second half.” McGrane said. “There was a complete 180 between the first half and the second half and you certainly saw that on the field as it got us where we wanted to be.”
The improved play in the second half paid off as the Lakers were finally able to put one in the back of Clarkson’s net.
On a free kick, Sophomore Audrey Burbidge took a beautiful shot that sailed right over Elyse Green’s head and into the back of the net during the 61st minute of the game.
There was no coincidence why Burbidge was the choice to take the free kick though according to McGrane.
“I thought the angle where the ball was placed suited her left foot perfectly, and the thing with free kicks that close just put it on net.” McGrane said “I wasn’t surprised at all when she scored because, I figured if it was on target and high enough the end result would be exactly what it was a goal.”
A single goal and another clean sheet by Melissa Siegfried propelled the Lakers to 3-1-1 on the year and gave Clarkson University its first loss of the year to drop to 4-1-0 on the young season.
Siegfried posted her second clean sheet victory of the year, which is also good enough to push her into the top 10 of the Oswego State women’s soccer history books. Siegfried is now tied with Christina Fregosi(2009-10) and Toby Klein(2007-2010) with 6 clean sheets during their Laker careers.
There is no time to celebrate though as the Lakers have another matchup tomorrow against St. Lawrence University. One that should prove to be another tough matchup.
