By Marc Weems
After a sensational start, the Youngstown State University women’s soccer team (4-8-1) have struggled of late to say the least. After winning four of its first five game including four in a row, YSU has gone 0-8-1 in its last nine games.
“It’s been a very frustrating season to this point,” YSU Head Coach Fabio Boateng said. “We started off very well and we then hit a well. The goal is try and find a way over the wall.”
“Struggling has been the game but the results don’t show how well the team has played, Boateng said.”
“We just keep in mind our passion and our intensity in practice,” forward Alison Green said. “We aren’t just playing for the wins and losses. We are doing this for each other. I think that’s the most important thing for us.”
With just five games left, YSU will have a tough time getting back on track. First, YSU plays the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. IUPUI is 10-3 and 4-0 in the conference who is the best team in the league.
Despite the struggles, YSU has actually won more games this year than it did last year. YSU won just three games and has already won four games this year.
“When you look at it from that standpoint, you think it is an improvement,” Boateng said. “It’s a give and take. For us as a team, we do as well as we can. I think we have a talented group of players.”
Boateng said the most frustrating part is playing well on the field.
“It’s just all about putting the chances we get in the back of the net. That hasn’t been happening. We just keep working to finish the season as high as we can,” Boateng said.
YSU scored nine goal in its first five games and has scored just four goals since that stretch.
“It has been very confusing especially from the beginning of the season until now,” Green said. “I think that we need to formulate some better chemistry on the team. We had this in the start of the season. Now we need to pick that up again and put that back in our games.”
Green has scored the last two goals in a close loss against Oakland University and blowout loss against Cleveland State University.
“They are just as frustrated as I am. They come to the field every day and work as hard as they can,” Boateng said. “It’s always tough to get confidence when you aren’t scoring goals especially as a forward.”
Boateng also said that if you give up a lot of goals, the defenders lose confidence as well.
So far this season, YSU is averaging just one goal per game while giving up 2.33 goals per game. Although YSU plays an unconventional defensive style, YSU has fared decently.
“I think we are still figuring that out,” Green said about getting back to form. “I think in our last game, we figured that out a little bit more. We didn’t concede as many goals. It was a much closer game between us and Oakland. I think that we learned that our communication really goes a long way.”
Green also said playing well without the result has been really tough.
“After a really hard loss like the game before, we keep that in mind for the next game. We try to fix our mistakes and change them for the next game,” Green said.
YSU has a tough finish to the schedule with just five games to go to fix its problems.