Struthers shows growth, but falls 5-0 to Lakeview
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CORTLAND -- Struthers remained winless Wednesday, falling to Northeast 8 Conference (NE8) rival Lakeview 5-0, although the outmatched Wildcats left their league match in Cortland with some valuable moral victories.
"Honestly, I'm really proud of these girls," Struthers head coach Samantha DuBois said. "Like I said before, we're a second-half team, and that is probably the best round of soccer I've seen them play this year."
The Wildcats, who have yet to score through nine games this season, fell behind less than two-and-a-half minutes after kickoff, when Bulldogs captain Sophie Irwin lobbed the ball from more than 25 yards out and over the head of Struthers goalkeeper Izabella Shetter.
Lilliann Marra doubled Lakeview's lead in the 10th minute after the Wildcats could not clear the ball out of their end. Marra, much like Irwin on the game's first goal, lifted her shot over Shetter's head.
A little more than 15 minutes into the match, Chloe Muncie gave the Bulldogs a 3-0 advantage when Shetter got a hand on a corner kick by Irwin. The deflection was not enough, though, as the ball went to Muncie, who headed it into the net.
Irwin scored her second of three goals on the night with 6:21 remaining in the half to give Lakeview a 4-0 lead at the break.
"She just really works the ball off her feet, finding open space, finding other players, taking the shots when they're available," Lakeview head coach Heather Sferra said of Irwin.
For Struthers, the four-goal deficit represented a slim margin by comparison of many of its games this season, including one week earlier when the Wildcats trailed Springfield 12-0 after 40 minutes.
"They realized that they work better, and they're starting to become a team again, and they're realizing this is a team sport," DuBois said. "I think they got the confidence in themselves, and they just showed up. They started playing together and just really made an impact with each other."
By scoring the only goal of the second half, Irwin completed her hat trick with 24:50 left to go.
With the win, which snapped a three-match losing streak, the Bulldogs improved to 3-8 on the season and 2-6 in NE8 play. They will be back in action Monday at Poland.
"I thought we played really well," Sferra said. "We were getting our passes connected and really taking what we learned at practice and applying it to the game tonight.
"The girls really needed [the win], especially mentally. I know they feel really good about it," she added. "They do the right things at practice, so to finally see it pay off is definitely worth a lot."
Struthers, while falling to 0-9 overall and 0-8 in the NE8, recorded its first single-digit loss of the season Wednesday in Cortland. The Wildcats had lost by an average margin of 12 goals entering their meeting with Lakeview.
Like the Bulldogs, Struthers will next play Poland, which the Wildcats host today.
"This was the first game that we had that was a single-digit loss. That's a win for us," DuBois said. "We had so many more plays together; the confidence is building. ... We tell the girls don't focus on the score. Our biggest thing is, how do you feel after the game? They played remarkable even though we lost. The fact that we kept them to only one goal in the second half, I couldn't be prouder.
"They're going to come in with their heads up [against Poland] after realizing, 'Oh, we can do this.' So I do think starting off tomorrow, they're going to come in with a little bit more confidence in themselves after seeing how they played."