Salukis suffer tough loss to IUPUI
September 1, 2019
This afternoon Southern took on the IUPUI Jaguars (2-1) to complete their very first five game home stand.
The Salukis fell to the Jaguars 2-0 in this matchup.
SIU head coach Grant Williams felt that increasing the amount of substitutions he made in this game may have harmed his team’s performance.
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“I need to take responsibility for not getting a result today,” Williams said. “I made too many changes and the kids I made changes with didn’t affect the game in a positive way. I was trying to keep in mind that it was hot, but when I shortened the bench in the second half we did everything but score.”
The Jaguars entered today’s game on a tie from their matchup against Western Illinois University. The game went into overtime twice, but neither team was able to score a goal to decide the winner. SIU, on the other hand, entered the game today on a 1-0 win from their game against Belmont University on Friday.
IUPUI started the game off on an aggressive foot putting up one shot on goal and three shots total within the first ten minutes of the game.
The first shot of the game for Southern came from junior forward Kathryn Creedon 15 minutes in with a kick to the left side of the goal that was intercepted by the Jaguar goalie.
Creedon stayed on the attack for the Salukis taking another shot to the left side from far out and missing the net by just a few inches as it hit the top corner of the post.
At the 15 minute mark SIU took a corner kick and during the commotion, senior midfielder Andrea Rodriquez fell to the ground and had to be taken off of the field due to an unknown injury.
Shortly after Rodriquez left the field, Southern took a penalty kick, which hit the top bar of the goal. While the penalty kick allowed the Salukis to get some second chance shots, none of the shots were able to reach the goal.
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With ten minutes left to play in the half, the Jaguars streaked down the field taking a shot at the SIU goal from the far left corner of the field. While the kick missed the target, another IUPUI player was able to meet the ball and shoot it into the back of the net.
This goal put the Jaguars up 1-0 over the Salukis.
For the remaining minutes of the half, the defense on both ends of the field allowed no more goals to be scored and the Jaguars remained in the lead entering halftime.
Five minutes into the half several player fouls were called and a yellow card was given to the Jaguars.
“A lot of the fouls we gave away were, in some regards, silly defensive fouls,” Williams said. “But if some of our forwards are working hard and trying to limit the other team from building out of the back and we give away a few fouls, I encourage that. Sometimes we fouled players who weren’t in a dangerous position and put them in a dangerous position because then they were able to serve a ball right outside of the box.”
Both of the teams attacked the net, but each goalkeeper intercepted each attempt.
After the first half, freshman goalkeeper Dariana Mihalache replaced Sofia Howe at the net notching four saves within the first 15 minutes of the half.
“Certainly when Dariana is on the field I think you can see the best of her,” Williams said. “We are still in the situation where we are trying to find who our starting goalkeeper is.”
With nine minutes left to play, a foul gave the Jaguars a penalty kick on the left side of the field. The kick shot passed Saluki defenders and bounced unexpectedly into the right side of the goal putting IUPUI up 2-0.
Southern was unable to come back from the two goal deficit in the amount of time remaining in the game and the Jaguars took home the win.
The Salukis (3-2) will take the field again in Fort Wayne, Indiana as they take on the Purdue University Fort Wayne Mastodons. Game time is set for 6 pm on Friday.
Sports reporter Tamar Mosby can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @mosbytamar.
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