Junior midfielder Maggie Ramsey led from the front and scored a brace to lift the Lady Lions against Alabama State University. However, her efforts went in vain as a result of a successful overtime penalty kick by Alabama State. The 3-2 loss against Alabama State was the second successive on the road loss for the team. Courtesy of Sports Information

The Lady Lions soccer team went on their first on the road games last week. The trip was not as successful as the team had hoped as they lost both of their games against Georgia State University and Alabama State University. 

Head Coach Christopher McBride gave his overall assessment on the games.

“We did well on Friday night,” said McBride. “We started slow, and we got some goals early on from mistakes on our end. We’re always fighting to come back then to battle. In the second half against Georgia State, we came out, and we fought strong. I thought we were the better team in the second half. We had some chances that we just didn’t put away.”

McBride also described the second game and discussed where the team needs to improve on. During the game against Alabama, the efforts of the team was undone by a penalty kick during overtime. 

“Second game was always gonna be tough after fighting Georgia State on Friday night,” said McBride. “We were gonna be tired, and they were gonna be fresh. We’re always chasing the game, but we went up 1-0. They brought it back to tie the game. Then, we went up 2-1, but they brought back to tie. That was just a little bit of fatigue coming in to us. Again, we had a lot of chances that we just didn’t convert. We definitely need to be more clinical in front of the goal.” 

Despite the 3-0 loss against Georgia State and a very close 3-2 loss against Alabama State, the on the road experience was vital for the team’s chemistry.  

“It’s a good experience for the girls,” said McBride. “It’s the first road trip, so the girls get to have a bus ride together, stay in the hotels together. It’s all about team bonding in the hotel. There are no challenges ahead, just a great experience for them, especially the new players.”

McBride was appreciative of the opponents and their game plans before the games had started. He also commended the effort put in by his girls on the training ahead of the games.

“Georgia State is a really good team, athletic and well-coached,” said McBride. “They came over last year in our place, and they beat us 2-0. It’s our turn to play them now, and hopefully, after playing them last and getting to watch them, it’s an opportunity for us to play and find some way to beat them this time. Alabama on Sunday, they’ll be a tough opponent. They don’t play on Friday, so they’ll be fresh. That’ll be a really tough challenge for us.

We’ll see how the game develops. We’ll see how well they’re playing, how well we’re playing. Then, we’ll look for rotations. This week in practice, everyone’s putting in a good shift, and the effort levels have been really good. It’s a tough decision for us to line up.”

Unfortunately, the games didn’t go as planned, but redshirt junior midfielder Maggie Ramsey rose to the occasion and scored two goals in the game against Alabama State. It was her third two-goal game in her career. During the same game, freshmen Tilly Hallas-Potts and Jessi Cooper had their first assist as a Lion while junior Sofia Olsson also registered her first assist of the season. .

“She’s done well,” said McBride. “When you’re on a game and teams are fatigued and tired, you look for your captain and your leader to step up, and that’s what she’s done. She scored a nice goal to start the game off, and for the second goal, a cross was coming out from wide from Sofia Olsson, and she read it well, made a good run to the back post and put it in. She also won a penalty during the game, so she had a really good game.”

The Lady Lions now have an overall record of 1-2 but will look to recover from the losses on Friday, Sept. 1 against University of Louisiana at Lafayette at the Strawberry Stadium.

McBride will be trying to prepare the Lady Lions for the Ragin’ Cajuns.

“They’re always a good team, and they’ll be a tough opposition for us,” said McBride. “Tactically, they’ll be very ready for us, and they’ll have a game plan placed. We’ll see this week if we’re gonna make any changes, so we just gotta make sure our game plan matches if not better than theirs for this Friday.”