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Coyotes return home after four game slide

After being on the road since Oct. 6, the University of South Dakota women’s soccer team will return home for a match against Denver University Oct. 20.

The Coyotes are currently 5-6-3 following four consecutive losses, including a pair of one score losses against rivals South Dakota State and North Dakota State Oct. 11 and Oct. 13, respectively.

Head coach Mandy Green said those games are some of the hardest to take for the team.

“There have been a lot of really close games that we should have won,” Green said. “We kind of let them get away from us, so that has been tough for us. But we just have to keep going on game by game.”

The team will take on the Denver University Pioneers Sunday afternoon, where the Coyotes look to build upon their record before the conference tournament begins Nov. 6.

The Pioneers, which are currently undefeated in the Summit League, are ranked ninth in the nation by the Top Drawer Soccer poll. Denver has dominated the field both offensively and defensively, allowing just seven total goals during the season.

“They are a very good team,” Green said. “But we treat them like we would any other opponent. If we play good defense for 85 minutes of the game and we are able work well offensively by connecting passes, then we will be able to handle any team that comes our way.”

The team is looking to improve its record so it can be in the top four of the conference and have a chance to play in the Summit League Tournament come November.                 First-year Jamie Karch says that while the conference tournament is not the most important thing to the team right now, they do know the significance of the standings.

“We really want to get into the top four because that means we get to play in the tournament,” Karch said. “The team is much better than last year and I think that would be really great to go to the Tournament.”

In 2012, the Coyotes were a forgettable 2-13-3. Coach Green has previously stated that the team had a lot of negativity, but this year’s group is much more cohesive and positive even after some tough losses.

“I am very pleased with the team that I have this year. We are sitting a lot better than we were at this time last year,” Green said.

Junior Shannon Keller says that this year’s team is a lot more confident after having a couple of years of college play under their belts. She added that the team knows how to play better now compared to last year.

“Our season is much better than last year,” Keller said. “We have a majority of juniors and sophomores, we have more experience than we did before. We know how to play smart and we know how we need to play at the college level.
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The team will finish out its season with games against IPFW, Western Illinois and IUPUI.