Lipscomb hands Southern 6-0 loss

By Tamar Mosby, Sports Reporter

Tonight the Saluki Soccer team took the field at the Lew Hartzog Track and Field Complex to take on the Lipscomb University Bison (6-3).

The Salukis fell 6-0 in this matchup which is the second biggest amount they have lost by so far this season with the worst being a 7-0 loss to Ohio University.

SIU head coach Grant Williams saw this game as a learning opportunity for his team and that the matchup gave them the chance to see where they were as a team.

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“We needed a measuring stick,” Williams said. “There is a standard of execution that they have and we aren’t there yet. So this was a great learning experience for us.”

Prior to tonight’s matchup, SIU defeated Morehead State in a 2-1 overtime victory last Sunday. The Bison also entered the night on a win as they took down Tennessee Tech in a 2-0 victory last Sunday.

Lipscomb put up the first two shots of the game, but did not get the ball past SIU’s freshman  goalie Dariana Mihalache. 

A Saluki shot followed shortly after Lipscomb’s second with the attempt coming from freshman forward Liz Brechtel. Brechtel’s shot went to the bottom left side of the goal and was intercepted by the Bison’s goalkeeper.

Two minutes after Brechtel’s shot, the Bison were able to come down the field and shoot the ball passed Mihalache and into the back of the net. This goal from Lipscomb put the Bison up 1-0 over Southern.

As the half was coming to a close, Lipscomb got down the field passing Saluki defenders and approached the Southern goal. Mihalache came out to defend the kick, but was passed by Bison freshman forward Molly Grant with the ball.

 After passing Mihalache, Grant took a shot at the wide open goal, but missed as the ball went out to the left side. 

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SIU attempted two more shots at the goal for the remainder of the half and was out-shot 10-3 by the Bison by the end of the half.

Neither Lipscomb or Southern were able to score by the end of the half and the score remained 1-0 entering halftime.

The Salukis took the first shot of the second half with the attempt coming from freshman forward/midfielder Paityn Schneider. The shot was taken far out on the right side of the field and seemed to be entering the goal, but missed over the top.

At just under the 38 minute mark the ball returned to the Bison offensive end and was lost in a tangle of players. Lipscomb’s senior forward, Olivia Doak, emerged from the crowd of players with the ball and shot the ball past Mihalache to score another goal for her team.

The goal brought the Bison lead up 2-0.

The Salukis continued to attack the Lipscomb goal, but none of the shots they took made it past the goalkeeper.

With 30 minutes left to play, the Bison got the ball to their end of the field once again and shot the ball over the Southern defense into the top right corner of the net pushing the score to 3-0.

After SIU lost possession of the ball on a kick out of bounds, the Bison attacked the goal on offense and brought the ball down the left side of the field. A pass from the left corner to the middle allowed Lipscomb’s sophomore forward, Allie Dunn, to shoot the ball into the net as Mihalache missed the attempt interception. 

Dunn’s goal took the score to 4-0 and further increase the deficit Southern sought to relieve. 

Freshman forward Madison Meiring went on the attack for SIU taking two shot attempts within a two minute span. Both of Meiring’s attempts were saved by the Lipscomb goalie and the Salukis remained scoreless.

Despite the score, the Bison offense refused to let up and pushed down the field to score another goal putting the lead at 5-0.

After this fifth goal was scored, Mihalache was replaced in goal by freshman goalkeeper Maddy Alaluf.

The Bison received a penalty kick after a foul was called on SIU freshman defender Sam DeJulio. With the foul being committed on the five-yard line, Lipscomb’s kicker essentially faced Alaluf one-on-one for the penalty kick. The kick shot passed Alaluf and hit the back right corner of the net and this gave the Bison a massive 6-0 lead.

The ball rarely spent time on the Saluki offensive and much of Southern’s play consisted of trying to defend Bison shot attempts.

At the four minute mark the ball reached Southern offensive territory, but the team was not able to put up any shot attempts and Lipscomb regained possession of the ball.

Time wound down on the clock and the Salukis were unable to convert any of their possessions into shots. SIU could not recover from the large score deficit and the Bison took home the win at 6-0.

Despite his team suffering a tough loss, Coach Williams had a positive message for his team. 

“I told them that if they feel like they made a mistake to hold onto it because you shouldn’t pass things like that off, but not to beat themselves up about it,” Williams said. “We can’t be satisfied with this result, but I think in the first 20 minutes of each half we saw some good things we could build on.” 

The Salukis (4-5-1) will play their next game on Sunday when they take on the Colorado College Tigers at 2 pm in Colorado Springs.

Sports reporter Tamar Mosby can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @mosbytamar.

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