By Michael Alves
Framingham State’s Women’s Soccer team fell 4-0 to the Keene State Owls, Oct. 6 at Maple Street Field, as they just could not figure out a way to put the ball in the back of the net.
The Rams struggled to keep up with Keene State’s blazing speed, as the Owls beat them to the ball much more often than not.
The Owls were fairly aggressive, making multiple tremendous effort plays left and right throughout the entirety of the game.
In the first half, Owls’ junior midfielder Kayleigh Marshall struck the clock once on a low corner pinpoint shot only 7 minutes into the match to make it 1-0 Keene State.
Not long down the match, Marshall scored again off an assist from her sister, Amanda Marshall, who is also a junior, to make it a 2-0 game.
The Owls refused to stop the bus for anyone as they continued scoring.
This time, Amanda Marshall wanted to join in on the scoring fun with her sister, scoring on a pass from sophomore Elizabeth Kopicko to make it a 3-0 lead.
The Rams struggled to create scoring chances and get shots on net.
They were outshot 11-4 in the first half.
But Framingham State’s freshman goaltender Sarah Lutsic was keeping the Rams in the game with a notable six saves in the first half alone.
Lutsic made a splendid, desperate, diving save and also made a couple of aggressive run-out stops to neutralize the Owls’ oNensive power.
In the second half, the scoring paused at a stagnant 3-0 until Keene State’s sophomore forward Lily Derosier swooped in for another goal for the Owls on an assist from sophomore Alyssa Wilcox to make it 4-0 in the 79th minute.
Despite FSU losing the game, the Rams ended up putting up much more of a fight in the second half.
They more than doubled their shots and flipped the shot count in their favor for a 10-3 total.
But the Rams just continuously did not capitalize on their scoring chances, as not one of their 10 shots found its way into the back of the net.
Head Coach Kristina Kern said the team needs to work on “just playing simple and trusting each other. We need simple combinations and a little better communication across the board offensively and defensively.”
Kern said the team will “continue to work on playing simple as a team moving the ball.”
She added they will “scout the opponent and see how we can take advantage of some situations that they can bring on the field” in preparation for their next game against MCLA.
When speaking about the defense’s potential improvements in the near future, FSU goaltender Lutsic said, “I think we were really good in the back for the most part, but I think one thing we need to work on is getting back in position and just facing the girl out wide so we don’t get that pass through the middle. That’s how most of their goals were happening.”
For herself as a goaltender, Lutsic added that in the future, she should improve on “communicating with my team and making sure everyone is in the right position seeing the field better.”
The Framingham State Women’s Soccer team will face 0-8-1 conference opponent, the MCLA Panthers Saturday Oct. 9 at 12 p.m.