Box Score We're all told to make the most of every minute of every day. The AU women's soccer team learned that lesson again on Wednesday (Oct. 16) at Ferguson Field.
AU (6-4-2) saw a six-match unbeaten streak and a four-match winning streak end with a 2-1 loss to Davis and Elkins. The Senators (5-7-1) took a 2-0 lead and then held on for dear life. AU's Haley Frick put the ball in the net off a hurried corner kick just after time expired.
"Ninety minutes and one second," exclaimed AU head coach Danny Krispinsky. "But a match is 90 minutes. We just didn'tget it done."
This was Ashland's final non-conference match of the year. It came against a Davis and Elkins team that is 4-1-1 in its own conference.
Krispinsky's starting lineup had a different look than it had through the last six matches. Some players needed a rest and Krispinsky faced a difficult decision. Should he try and play some key players who needed a break, or have them play through bumps and bruises with two huge matches on Friday and Sunday - home dates with Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan?
Krispinsky chose to give some of his major contributors a break and reduce their minutes. The Senators, who rode in a bus over five hours to get to town, showed no signs of travel fatigue as L. Margenat Dordas scored her fifth and sixth goals of the season to give the Senators the quick lead. Dordas scored at 8:30 and 15:18.
"We've been down two goals before early on," said Krispinsky. "It hurts you because then you're always chasing the game. I thought we were fortunate to get one before halftime and then I thought we were unfortunate in the second half when we didn't bag one."
Kelly Krispinsky scored AU's first goal at 40:21 on a feed from Allison Richards to make the score 2-1. That ended all of the scoring. Late in the second half AU had plenty of good chances. With 7:54 remaining, Frick was just wide with a shot from 10 yards out.
With 5:54 left, the Eagles hit the crossbar on the rebound off a corner kick. That shot came in heavy traffic from deep in the box. Ashland led in shots, 19-7 and in the second half, had a 12-2 edge.
"That's been a theme for us this year," said Dan Krispinsky. "We've constantly out-shot our opponents. But we're in that situation again where we aren't finishing chances."
That last chance came in the final 15 seconds. The clock was ticking down and the Eagles were awarded a corner kick. AU players sprinted wildly to get into position for one last shot. Aat first, it appeared that the Eagles wouldn't even get a shot. But Kelly Krispinsky got the corner kick off and Frick got her foot on the ball. Unfortunately for AU, everything happened a second too late.
"We didn't underestimate them," Dan Krispinsky said. "We've been playing well and we'll continue to play well this weekend. We have a great opportunity on Friday to play Michigan Tech, one of best teams in the conference."
Ashland, Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan are fighting for the next three spots behind first place Grand Valley State. The top four teams in the GLIAC standings host first round playoff games. Heading into the weekend Michigan Tech is second, AU is third and NMU is fourth.
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