Dropping its second straight game, the Illinois State soccer team was narrowly defeated Friday evening by Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2-1, at Adelaide Street Field.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee (5-2) jumped to an early lead on a Carrie Durand goal off a corner kick from Julie Ruma at the 17:06 mark in the first half. The Panthers added one more before halftime and an unassisted score by Amy Oexhsner, her third goal of the season.
The Redbirds (4-3) came out with a more intense level of play in the second half, but could only manage one goal.
St. Louis native Sheila Bryant was switched from defender to midfield at the intermission and responded with her first career goal at 81:18. Bryant, a midfielder in high school, admitted that she was excited about her first goal, but was slightly disappointed in the game.
We had so many chances, Bryant said. It seemed like in the second half we had chance after chance to score.
With two minutes left to play, the Birds had an opportunity to tie the game, but a shot by Annie Wayland was deflected by Panther goalkeeper Kerrie St. Aubin and Ty Winkelhakes rebound attempt sailed just over the crossbar. The shutout is the fifth straight for St. Aubin.
Weve got to trap, pass and shoot the ball, head coach Pete Kowall said. Today we had some poor angles and some weak shots. When youre playing against a good goalkeeper you have to aggressively shoot the ball. We need the sense of urgency before the results have been tabulated.
Kowalls Redbirds try to bounce back Sunday at noon against Wisconsin-Green Bay at Adelaide Street Field.
Were in unchartered territory right now with three losses this early, Kowall added. It will be interesting to see how our team comes out on Sunday. Today was a real gut-check game and Sunday will be a great game to figure out where we are at before we get into league play.
