Slumping soccer team seeks strong end to season

After a hot start to the 2013 season, the Coyote women’s soccer team has cooled down, losing lost six straight, including five in conference play after starting the season 5-2-3.

The Coyotes have been shut out in five consecutive matches, leaving goalkeeper Mackenzie Viktor with a lot of work on the defensive end.

Despite good defense by the Coyotes, including three one-goal losses in the last four matches, the offense hasn’t given any help.

This past weekend, the Coyotes traveled to Fort Wayne to face Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, the defending Summit League champions. The Coyotes were outshot 15-6 by the Mastodons but again only gave up one goal. Head coach Mandy Green said the shot that went in was one in a thousand.

“We’re giving up weird goals. The goal against Fort Wayne, if the girl would have shot a thousand more times she’d never make it again,” Green said. “The girls have been great, and we’re playing together really well as a team.”

Early in the year, the Coyotes were outscoring opponents 18-13 through their first ten matches. In the last six matches, they’ve been outscored 12-2.

“We have had some bad luck when it comes to being in the goal box,” Green said. “We’ve had chances. We just haven’t been finishing, so we just need to be more focused.”

This coming weekend the Coyotes finish off their season at home with two matches against conference foes Western Illinois and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. All three schools are out of contention for the Summit League Tournament at the end of the year, but the young Coyotes team is the only team in the league without a conference win.

“We’re continuing to work on what we’ve been working on all year)” Green said. “I like how we’re playing. I think we’re playing the best soccer we’ve ever played in the four years I’ve been here. If we work on anything different this week, it will be finishing.”

Since senior Jenny Teslow got hurt in the game against Drake University Sept. 26, the Coyotes have not scored a goal. Teslow is the only senior on the team, leaving the rest of the team returning next year, still searching for a conference win going into the offseason.

“It would be huge (to get a win),” Green said. “It would be a great reward for all the work they’ve been putting in. We just have to keep pushing, and believing that what we’re doing is going to work, and have to keep getting a little better every day.”