After an exciting 2-0-1 start to the season, the Raider women’s soccer team hit road blocks this week, dropping two games in Kansas, and drawing 1-1 with Buena Vista Wednesday night at home.
Coach Blake Wieking thought the quality of the Raiders’ performance on Wednesday was split between halves.
“We really didn’t play that well [in the first half]; we came out extremely flat. We talked at half time about coming out ready to play, and we did much better in the second half. I would say we controlled most of the game in the second half. We had many chances but couldn’t seem to put everything together,” said Wieking.
Sophomore Alyssa Duren scored the Raiders’ only goal; a free kick rocket that split the defenders and found the back of the net.
The Raiders played Benedictine College on Friday. Despite being outshot 20-3, Northwestern kept it close throughout, falling by a score of 2-1. Sophomore Alli Dunkelberger scored the Raiders’ only goal in the second half, assisted by sophomore forward Ann Calsbeek.
Northwestern clashed with Central Methodist on Saturday, and lost by the same score, 2-1. Calsbeek scored the goal, assisted by freshman Jenny Niemeyer.
Calsbeek was glad to have contributed, but disappointed in the outcome.
“It’s good to have an assist and a goal, but we still lost. And it’s still like ‘what if I had done this or that?'” said Calsbeek.
Junior defender Linden Figgie was impressed with their opponents’ skill level.
“They controlled the ball very well, and they had a lot of speed, but I think the biggest thing was they controlled with speed. Not only were we defending a team that had good ball touches, good passing and appropriate pace, but they could do it with a speed that we had to really react to and be on our toes, not only physically but mentally,” said Figgie.
Coach Wieking, however, was pleased with the team’s progress.
“We played two very good teams,” said Wieking. “It was good for us to challenge ourselves against some quality opponents. We played hard and took home some things to work on as a team.”
