Rough Start: Saluki Soccer leaves first road trip weekend winless
September 8, 2019
This weekend the Salukis opened up their road schedule taking on the Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons on Friday and the Ohio University Bobcats on Sunday.
Game 1
On Friday, the team played their very first road game against the Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (1-1-1).
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The Salukis entered the matchup in Indiana on a previous loss to IUPUI, while the Mastodons entered on a win against Chicago State University.
The game got off to a fast start with IPFW scoring a goal against Southern within the first four minutes of the start to put the score at 1-0.
SIU struggled to get a shot for several minutes, but both teams were being aggressive on offense and defense totaling 14 fouls in all by the half.
After their initial first goal the Mastodons were able to notch three more shots into their stats with Southern still having none.
IPFW went on to put up 15 more shots in the first half, but the Saluki defense was able to keep the ball out of the net.
The SIU offense on the other hand, was unable to put up any shots for the entirety of the first half.
The score entering half time remained 1-0 with the Mastodons in the lead.
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The second half began with IPFW on the attack again recording three unanswered shots against Southern.
It wasn’t until twelve minutes into the half that SIU put its first shot of the game up against IPFW.
This shot just happened to be the answer for Southern as sophomore defender Kailyn Stone was able to get the ball past the goalkeeper into the back of the net to tie it up 1-1.
Several shots and free kicks were attempted on each side of the field, but neither end’s defenders let anything into the net.
The score remained tied at 1-1 until time ran out of the clock and the game was sent into overtime.
Both teams struggled with getting a shot into the goal and the score remained the same sending the game into double overtime.
The results of the second overtime were the same as the first.
After closing two overtime periods with no clear winner, the game was decided as a tie at 1-1.
Game 2
On Sunday, Southern took the field in Athens, Ohio to play the Ohio University Bobcats (5-0) falling in the matchup 7-0.
SIU entered this game on a previous tie in Friday’s game against IPFW, while Ohio entered the day riding a four-game win streak.
The Bobcats started the game off on an aggressive foot putting up the first four shots of the game. Each of the Ohio shots on goal, were saved by Southern freshman goalie Dariana Mihalache.
The first Saluki shot of the game came just over the 17 minute mark from sophomore defender Maya Warrior, but the kick was intercepted by the Bobcats’ goalkeeper.
As time went on in the first half Ohio notched five more shots on goal, scoring on the fifth to put the score at 1-0 with just over five minutes left to play.
Southern was unable to put up any shots in the remaining time left in the half and continued to trail the Bobcats with the score at 1-0 entering halftime.
In the beginning of the second half, Ohio got off to an early start scoring their second goal of the game within the first five minutes of the start.
The third OU goal came almost immediately after the second also within the first five minutes of second half play when the Salukis were given a yellow card.
These goals seemed to take momentum away from the Southern offense as they were unable to keep the ball on their offensive end or put up any shots at the Bobcat goal.
In the next five minutes of the game the Bobcats scored two more back-to-back goals giving the four within the first ten minutes of the half. These goals put Ohio up 5-0 over SIU.
Southern recorded its second shot of the game close to the 20 minute mark, but this was intercepted by the OU goalkeeper.
Just three minutes after the SIU shot attempt, Ohio went on to score their sixth goal of the game pushing their lead to 6-0.
The third and final Saluki shot on goal came with just ten minutes left to play, but the ball could not make it to the net and was picked up by the Bobcats’ goalie.
The Bobcats had the final say in this game scoring one final goal with just three minutes left to play. This goal was the sixth of the half and put Ohio up 7-0.
No more shots were taken on either side with the remaining time left in the game and the Bobcats took the win at 7-0.
You can catch the Salukis (3-3-1) on the field again in Kentucky as they play the WKU Hilltoppers this Friday. Game time is set for 6 pm.
Sports reporter Tamar Mosby can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @mosbytamar.
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