The Golden Eagle soccer team (1-5) went even on the weekend, travelling to the University of Findlay and Ball State.
Friday’s game marked the first win of the season for the team with a 3-1 victory over Findlay. “We pressed forward more and got more opportunities on frame, we fished our chances and we just wanted to win,” said Coach Daniel Brizard. “I think they were ready for it.”
Senior Ellie Iaciofano, put Tech on the board in the 22nd minute, ending the half with a 1-0 in Tech’s favor.
“We were able to play a lot more through the midfield and able to get in behind the defense with balls played over the top,” Iaciofano said. “We were able to get lots of runners into the box.”
In the 58th minute, freshman Abi Gearing notched her first goal of her college career, doubling the lead for the Golden Eagles. The Oilers fought back quickly, scoring in the 70th minute, but Iaciofano sealed the deal for Tech off a penalty ten minutes later.
“Last week we really worked on capitalizing on our scoring opportunities in the final third in practice,” Iaciofano said.
Tech was unable to keep the momentum going into Sunday’s game and fell to Ball State, 2-0.
“We worked hard for the full 90,” Brizard said. “In the end they were probably just a little bit better in every position on the field.”
Ball State scored off a free kick 30 minutes into the game, and again in the 64th minute.
“They were a solid team, probably even better than most of the teams we will see in the OVC,” Iaciofano said. “We just can’t get down on ourselves, when there is still plenty of time to come back.”
The team will have a full week off of games before heading to Middle Tennessee State University, a local rival of the Golden Eagles. In order to prepare for the game, the team won’t do anything out of the ordinary but work on their own game.
“We have to focus more on what we can do rather than what MTSU has been doing,” Brizard said. “It will be a good game, and if we can put our impressions on the game and not worry about them we can do what we want to do.”
The game will kickoff at MTSU, Sunday at 5 p.m. “We’ve been working on staying positive,” Gearing said. “We’ve also been working on our mentality so that we come out strong from the first whistle, rather than easing into the game.”
