The Lady Lions failed to score for a second straight match in an agonizing 1-0 home loss against Southland Conference rival Lamar on Sunday night. The loss dropped their season record to 3-8 (1-3 SLC).
Heading into the game, Head Coach Nathan Gillespie’s squad was looking to bounce back from a similarly brutal home loss to conference rival Texas A&M-Commerce (TAMUC), 2-0 on Friday night. They would have their work cut out for them, as Lamar entered the ‘Berry atop the SLC standings at 4-0.
Lamar asserted their dominance early and often in the first half; they outshot the home team 8-2. The Lady Lions’ bend-but-don’t-break defense managed to keep each of Lamar’s eight chances from reaching the back of the net, though, so the first half ended as it began, 0-0.
Early into the second half, junior forward Isela Ramirez sent a high-arching shot just past junior goalie Olivia Griffin and into the back of the net, putting the Lady Lions on their heels and the SLC No. 1 seed ahead 1-0 in the 51st minute.
Much like their game against TAMUC, Sunday night’s affair was defined by an early second-half deficit, physical play and a stifled Lady Lions offense. SLU racked up thirteen total fouls, including a yellow card for the entire team in the 76th minute. Despite only committing four total fouls on the night, Lamar made their violations count, as they drew three yellow cards and a red card (second yellow) for Ramirez, which ejected her from the match in the 71st minute.
Once again, the Green and Gold’s physicality did nothing to improve their offensive prospects. While they managed to keep things close in the box score against TAMUC, Lamar was a different story. They produced thirteen shots, including seven on goal, whereas the Lady Lions mustered only four total shots, a pair in each half with two on frame.
In the 62nd minute, redshirt sophomore midfielder Rylee Franklin sailed the would-be equalizer just over the crossbar, and in the 67th minute Lamar graduate student goalie Nicole Panis saved a shot from graduate student midfielder Mya Guillory.
Coach Gillespie acknowledged Lamar’s stellar defense and their “outstanding goalkeeper” (Panis) and said his team could’ve created more scoring opportunities.
“Just having one or two [scoring opportunities] isn’t enough, but when you’re playing against a very well-organized opponent in Lamar…the fact we had two was good. It would’ve been nice to maybe capitalize on an extra player and create a couple more,” Gillespie said.
Lamar bottled up each of SLU’s three corner-kick tries. After Ramirez’s goal, SLU spent the rest of the half in vain, attempting to stage a comeback. The game eventually ended in a 1-0 heartbreaker.
Though the weekend ended with a pair of losses, Gillespie said he liked his team’s level of play and favored their chances of victory throughout their next slate of games.
“We’ve had a very good performance this weekend in both games. [Lamar’s] coach said we played them out of the park, but they came out with a win. Unfortunately, that’s been a similar story for us so far this year, but we played three of the top four teams. We’ve got the harder part of the schedule out of the way and now we’re confident going into the next run of five games where we can start picking up some good results,” he said.
Senior forward Nicole O’Neill said the Lady Lions “really just got unlucky these past few games” and that the team is still confident heading into their away match against conference rival Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Graduate student defender Tilly Deacon said her team needs to keep doing what they’re doing in practice over the next few days.
“It’s just finishing those final chances. We’re still a very positive team, despite the outcomes we’ve had…keep moving the ball well, be clinical, create some chances and hopefully put them in the back of the net,” Deacon said.
The Lady Lions hit the road for a date against Corpus Christi at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 6. Fans can watch the affair on ESPN+. Visit Lion Sports for more information on Lady Lions soccer.
