The Fresno State women’s soccer team (5-6-3) has yet to get its first conference win, losing 2-1 to the University of Nevada, Reno on Thursday afternoon at the Bulldog Soccer Stadium.
After blowing an early lead, Fresno State Head Coach Brian Zwaschka said the team’s discipline is still something they have to work on.
“I still think we obviously fell asleep in a couple moments that were critical, especially going from a position of advantage,” Zwaschka said. “It’s the second time in the last four games that we’ve given up a goal advantage and couldn’t recover from it.”
What happened?
To start the first half Fresno State was clicking on both sides of the ball, particularly on defense, forcing two offside calls early on.
That defensive intensity would pay off when junior forward Ciara Wilson stole the ball away from a Nevada defender outside their box and passed it to senior forward Kaelyn Miller for the goal in the 18th minute. Fresno State led 1-0.
Following the goal Fresno State was riding the momentum, clicking on defense once again, shutting out any attempt of an attack by Nevada and swarmed Nevada’s players as they tried to force turnovers. However, the defense didn’t lead to goals as the whistle signaling halftime blew.
Fresno State entered halftime up 1-0 and forced Nevada to five offside calls.
Starting the second half, Fresno State continued where they left off and was back at it on defense which forced opportunities on offense.
In the 53rd minute, Wilson was dribbling up the right side of the field with a defender on her hip. Wilson came to a stop and sped past her defender into Nevada’s box, only to have the ball immediately scooped up by Nevada’s goalkeeper to prevent a goal.
After that, the momentum shifted into Nevada’s favor as Fresno State couldn’t seem to find a groove.
As a result, miscommunication on defense led to a goal that was too out of reach for junior goalkeeper Shivani Battaglia during the 63rd minute, making the score 1-1.
It didn’t stop there, as Nevada scored again three minutes later, in the 66th minute, after Fresno State turned it over and they were too slow to get back on defense. Score was 2-1 in favor of Nevada.
Now it was Nevada with the strong defense, putting a stop to whatever Fresno State threw at them as the game came to a close and the final whistle was blown, Nevada taking the win
Zwaschka noted that the team needs to continue to stick to the basics.
“We should have showed some poise and not sticking to the plan sometimes,” Zwaschka said. “We had a few people on a few different pages at moments when I thought we could have developed something more creative and more by design, and it caught us.”
What’s next?
The ‘Dogs will continue to look to get their first conference win of the season at New Mexico, against the Lobo’s, on Thursday, Oct. 17 at 6:30 p.m.