Box Score Friday at Ferguson Field, the Ashland University women's soccer team played its fourth match of the season. Compartively speaking, that's the like getting through the preface of War and Peace.
This season has a long way to go and for AU's first-year head coach Dan Krispinsky, every match is a learning tool. Friday's lesson came against a Grand Valley State team that's ranked No. 1 in the country. The Lakers defeated the Eagles, 2-0.
GVSU is 3-0-1 and the Eagles are 1-2-1. This was the GLIAC opener for both teams.
The Lakers assumed control of this match right from the start. Jenny Shaba scored a goal at 5:15 and Erika Bradfield took a cross pass and fired a shot to the back left corner past keeper Rebecca Plescia to give the Lakers a 2-0 lead at 9:02. For the rest of the first half, the Lakers kept peppering the goal. The good news is that the Eagles didn't break again. The bad news is that those 45 minutes took a lot out of the Eagles.
"I think they showed why they are the No. 1 team in the first half," said Krispinsky. "It just took us too long to adapt to their level of play. Once we adjusted, that helped us get a bit of confidence. You saw that in the second half. In the first half we were just chasing too much. We weren't seeing the ball. We had to defend for 45 minutes. It just kills you, wears you down."
Over the first 45 minutes the Lakers led in shots, 10-0. In the second half, AU had a 3-2 edge. Give the Eagles credit, they didn't stop competing. GVSU is the deeper team and came at the Eagles in shifts.
"The depth they have is part of the reason they're so good," said Krispinsky. "That's what we're trying to improve upon. They have quality depth."
In his post-game talk to his team, Krispinsky talked about a killer instinct and playing hard from the opening whistle. Falling behind GVSU 2-0 and trying to come back is a near impossible task.
"The second half should give us confidence that we can play with anybody," Krispinsky said. "This game shows you that you have to play at their level right from the get-go. We need to compete at that level immediately."
AU has not won since opening night at Indianapolis. The Eagles will try to rectify that situation on Sunday (Sept. 22, noon) when they host Ferris State. This is the first weekend of league play and it will be interesting to see how the Eagles handle the two-conference-games-in-three-days scenario.
"I'm glad it's a quick turnaround," said Krispinsky. "Our girls have some confidence going forward."
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