Toledo picks up first win at
IPFW, falls to Longhorns
The Rockets picked up their first win of the season on Friday
against IPFW, but fell to 1-3 overall after a disappointing
loss to Texas on Sunday.
Toledo traveled to Fort Wayne, Ind. to take on IPFW (0-2),
where sophomore Rio James’ lone goal turned out to be just
enough to give the Rockets their first win and shutout of the
season, defeating the Mastodons 1-0.
James’ first goal of the season came off of a pass from senior
Jaimie Morsillo in the 56th minute.
“It was a good finish,” said UT head coach Brad Evans. “She
was very composed in front of the goal and I thought she took
her chance well.”
For the first time this season, sophomore Kelsey Borowitz
split time with freshman Sam Tiongson between the goal posts.
The two combined for eight saves in the shutout.
“We’ve got two goalkeepers that have really never played full
time in the fall, so I need to know what they can do,” Evans
said.
Both teams finished with 11 shots, with James leading UT with
three shots. The Rockets had a slight 5-4 edge in corner
kicks, as well as their dominating 8-2 difference in saves.
“I thought we stayed fairly well organized offensively,” Evans
said. “You have to win one more battle than your opponent on a
regular basis and I think we did that.”
It was a different story on Sunday, however, as the Rockets
found themselves on the wrong end of a shutout. Toledo
traveled to Austin, Texas where they fell 3-0 to the Texas
Longhorns.
The Longhorns (2-2), dominated with 15 shots and 9 corner
kicks. UT was held to just 4 shots and 2 corner kicks.
“We tried to stay organized and keep them in front of us and I
think we did that well in the first half,” Evans said. “I
think that physically we wore out in the second half.”
Senior Kristen Mattei, sophomore Molly Cantwell, sophomore
Sarah Seig and freshman Geri Siudzinski were each credited
with a shot.
Texas scored their first goal in the 40th minute when Longhorn
Kristin Cummins recorded her third goal of the season.
“1-0 is manageable and if we can grind through it and find a
way to keep it 1-0 late then you can make an adjustment and
try to push for an equalizer,” Evans said. “That’s the
mentality part of it and it just didn’t happen.”
The Longhorns struck again in the 69th minute when Lindsey
Meyer headed in a corner kick for her first collegiate goal.
Less than three minutes later, Allison Smith scored the final
goal of the match with a left-footed shot past Tiongson.
Borowitz and Tiongson split time for the second consecutive
match.
The lack of improvement is troubling to coach Evans as we
approach the start of conference play.
“You play to win but if you are getting better and improving
through the process then it’s acceptable but we’re not doing
that right now,” Evans said. “We’ve sort of plateaued a little
bit. We need to do a better job individually and
collectively.”
The Rockets return home
Friday to host Loyola (IL).