OCT. 21 — Valiant Effort Comes Up Just Short At SAU

Defensive plan holds Cougars scoreless for 70 minutes; season ends in loss

Spring Arbor, MI — For a team not favored to win, the circumstances couldn’t have been much worse.

There was the Goshen College women’s soccer team, seeded seventh in Saturday’s Mid-Central Conference Tournament first round, having to travel to MCC Co-Champ Spring Arbor University to open tournament play. There was the field, a muddy, wet mess with patches of grass sprinkled throughout. And there was the familiarity, as Goshen had dropped a 3-0 decision to the Cougars at Goshen just three days earlier.

It was a recipe that did not favor Goshen’s chances.

For 70 minutes, the Leafs didn’t seem to care.

Using an intense, defensive scheme, Goshen held Spring Arbor scoreless for the majority of play Saturday, eventually giving up a score with just 20 minutes remaining in regulation and thus having to alter its approach. The host Cougars were able to tack on another goal with just 3:45 remaining, ending the Leafs’ season with a 2-0 loss in the first round of MCC Tournament play.

It was a bitter pill for Goshen head coach Thavisith Mounsithiraj to swallow, as he addressed seniors Hannah Eash, Liz Martin and Mary Jo Martin for the final time as their head coach following the match.

“I am in awe and humbled by the way our team played today,” Mounsithiraj said. “They played an incredible match against a very good team in very poor field conditions and weather. Our defensive team had by far the best defensive game of the season. They adjusted well to the many switches and the speed of SAU up front. As the game wore on, I could tell that our confidence continued to grow along with our intensity. The energy of the team was taking on a life of its own. It was a very, very difficult game to lose, but it certainly gives us good reason to look forward to next August.”

From the opening kickoff, Goshen’s plan was easy to detect: Pack in the defensive third of the field, and hope to keep Spring Arbor scoreless throughout. Statistically speaking, it was the right move: In each of the Leafs’ 10 losses on the season, Goshen had failed to score. In the team’s six wins, Mounsithiraj’s squad held the opposition scoreless.

If the plan worked, something would have to give mathematically.

“We modified our approach to our match in that we placed (junior) Lucy Roth to the midfield and left (freshman) Kaylee Pichardo as the lone striker up front,” Mounsithiraj said. “Our hope was to get to halftime with a shut-out and play a different match for the second half. Our plan worked extremely well. Time and time again we were able to deny SAU any quality chances at our goal, and they were coming at us very hard of the course of the 45 minutes. The tandem of SAU forwards Katie Sayler and Crissie Strohmaier were held to very few chances at us.”

Led by Eash, Goshen’s defense was stout. Despite giving up a total 10 shots on goal and seven corner kicks on the afternoon, the Leafs cruised to halftime with a scoreless tie, and actually had the best opportunity for a 1-0 lead.

Just 16 minutes into play, the speed of Mary Jo Martin caught Spring Arbor off guard, and Goshen was able to push up for a counter attack. Martin sent a through ball to Pichardo, who was able to get behind the Cougars’ final defender and have a one on one opportunity with the keeper. A nifty move sent the ball rolling toward the direction of the empty net, but another Spring Arbor defender raced in and cleared the ball at the last possible moment.

Mounsithiraj’s halftime speech was quite a contrast to that of just three days earlier, where Goshen surrendered a penalty kick to Spring Arbor just six minutes into play and trailed by a 3-0 count at the intermission (click here for related article).

Searching for the go-ahead score in Saturday’s second half, Goshen went back to a more traditional line-up. Roth and Pichardo began searching for chances to press upward, leaving the defensive third less congested than it was in the first period. At the game’s 70th minute-mark, Spring Arbor’s Heather Stenglein sent an arching serve into the Leafs’ 18-yard box, and Heidi Sharp was able to head the ball past sophomore goalkeeper Emmy Gibson for a 1-0 lead.

“We did not allow a goal until the 70th minute,” Mounsithiraj said dolefully. “And only after we had committed an additional forward up front to take chances at their goal.”

Now pushing to keep its season alive, Goshen was even more vulnerable in the back, and with just under four minutes to go, Spring Arbor added the insurance. The Cougars’ Strohmaier was able to slide a shot in between Gibson and the short post, effectively ending Goshen’s season in the process.

“Hannah Eash was once again stellar in her leadership and tenacity throughout the match,” Mounsithiraj said. “I am mourning the departure of all three of our seniors. They are all such outstanding individuals and talents. Years from now, I will be talking about these seniors and the impact they have left on our program. The ultimate measure of who these people are comes not in how many matches we have won or how many academic awards they have received, but the manners in which they managed the many losses and various challenges in the past three to four seasons. I admire their humility. Their hard work and commitment to the program is beyond reproach. They have helped me grow as a coach and as a person. They are the reasons that coaching is a rewarding profession. I will miss them very much.”

Goshen made vast improvements in 2006, finishing with a 6-11-1 record overall and a conference mark of 2-5-1, tying for a sixth-place regular-season finish. Those marks far outweighed 2005’s 2-14-1 overall record and 0-8 mark in MCC play, where the team failed to qualify for the post-season tournament.

“We started five freshmen and two sophomores all season, and were much more competitive,” Mounsithiraj said. “While we will miss our seniors dearly, we already have a good recruiting base and will look to add another outstanding class next year. We are getting better, and the future is bright for us. We will continue to work hard in hopes of more on the field success.”

Check back to this website for continual off-season information, including recruiting updates and team news. To contact Thavisith Mounsithiraj, call him at (574) 535-7539 or click here to send him an email.