Women’s Soccer continues to look for their first win of the season following three defeats to open up the year. Photo from gorhody.com.
The early season schedule has brought a lot of challenges for the University of Rhode Island Women’s Soccer team as their record fell to 0-3 on Sunday, losing on the road to the University of New Hampshire.
The Rams struggled out of the gates in this contest of New England foes, as the first half saw URI commit 10 fouls to New Hampshire’s three. Goalkeepers Teresa Morrissey and Faith Hutchins had to step up as a result, recording six total saves between the two of them.
The offense in the first half was driven by sophomore forward Brooke Cavino and freshman Sam Hagerty. The Rams had three shots in the first half, but were not able to capitalize as the two teams went into the break scoreless.
The second half was a different story. New Hampshire was able to get on the board early, scoring just six minutes into the half off of a penalty kick. Freshman midfielder Tess O’Connell and sophomore forward Carrie Ellis battled to get the Rams back in the game, each recording a shot on target. However, New Hampshire put a stop to these attacks and closed out the game with another goal with ten minutes remaining.
Rhody finished the game with deficits in shots (11-7), shots on goal (8-2) and corner kicks (11-3). Ultimately, the Rams were unable to get going offensively, remaining goalless in the first three games of the season. The eighteen fouls from the Rams ultimately allowed New Hampshire’s attack to get going.
This game, along with the rest of the non-conference schedule, has been very eye-opening for Head Coach Megan Jessee and her squad.
“We are grateful that we could find non-conference games with [COVID-19] and all of the issues that go with that,” said Coach Jessee. “We have had great opportunities to play some really good teams, and we have definitely learned a lot over the past three games about our team. I think these lessons will really help us out when we get into the conference schedule.”
In regards to what she has taken away from these games, Coach Jessee said that there’s a lot they have to work on as a team and among the coaches.
One of those things Jessee says the team needs to work on is fitness and endurance. The team wasn’t able to meet and work out consistently in the offseason due to COVID concerns. Jessee suggested the team’s conditioning may be hurting the Rams early in the season.
“I don’t know if our players will be able to reach 90-minute fitness during the season,” she said. “It is really hard to get into that shape during a season. We will have to make substitutions more often and get more people involved so we can have fresh legs in future games.”
Coach Jessee and the Rams will look to implement these changes Sunday when the team travels to Boston to take on Northeastern University in another New England matchup, with kickoff set for 2:00 p.m.