Still Missing Firepower: Lady Jags end the season on a defensive note

At nightfall, the women’s soccer team season ended at the 2014 SWAC tournament in the unusual territory of Huntsville, Alabama. The Jags faced the neighboring Panthers of Prairie View A&M University. They lost the match 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the SWAC tournament Thursday night.
The Lady Jags were struggling as of late, faced with a host of injuries and lingering clearinghouse issues; losing the last five games prior to the tournament, which made them fall to the seventh seed.
They had gotten some players back from injury in time for the tournament, but still lacked enough firepower to load the striking goals into the net.
Prairie View kicked off the scoring in the 36th minute of the first half, a goal that snuck just past goalie Sarah Forde that she procured many goals in this season. The Lady Jags tried to counter that goal but senior midfielder; Jacqueline Almendarez’s shot went wide. Towards the end of the half the Jags tried to capitalize on another scoring opportunity, but Fabiola Parra’s goal was halted by the Lady Panthers’ goalie, Bianca Garza.
The Lady Jags ended the half outshooting Prairie View, four shots to two. An abundance of good defense was played in the first half as well, but still, the Lady Jags trailed going into half 1-0. Defense kicked off the second half as well, as goalie Sarah Forde saved another two shots in the 26-minute mark.
Senior midfielder, Fabiola Parra, looked for another scoring opportunity in the eight-minute mark of the second half, but her long shot was not able to find the net. After two quick shots by Prairie View, the Lady Panthers scored another goal on their sixth shot of the half. They took a 2-0 lead with five minutes left in the match. The last five minutes were drastically fierce which Southern plays best defensively when the pressure is met. Both teams fought for the ball back and forth and the Lady Jags missed another shot by inches to capture their first goal.
Prairie View ended up outshooting the Lady Jags 9-7 and outshot them in the second half alone 7-3; and had a 6-2 shots on goal lead. Forde finished the match with four saves, proving to be the lone bright spot of the night. That last shot proved to be the story of the season, close but still lacking potency.
The team had gotten some players back from injury but not all of their firepower from the beginning of the season was able to play. So, the lineup was again filled with true freshman, who had to endure a host of nerves in the biggest game of the season.
When asked about her thoughts on their play in the tournament, “Well it hurts to see our season come to an end, especially when we’ve worked so hard. With all the injuries and certification issues we’ve faced, it certainly wasn’t the season we hoped for; but a bunch of our younger players gained valuable game experience from being forced into the lineup. Surely we’ll look to get healthy over the offseason, get a couple of important players back, and work twice as hard to have a better season in 2015,” said head coach Courtnie Prather.
With various players coming back from injury, combined with freshmen and younger players gaining crucial playing time, we’ll look for a potentially dangerous Lady Jaguar soccer team in the next season ahead.