Analysis: Tiger defense needs to step up in conference play
Missouri soccer opens conference play against Kansas on Thursday.
Published Sept. 21, 2010
The Missouri defense allowed five goals in two games Friday and Sunday -- something it will aim to change with conference play around the corner.
The Tigers allowed two first half goals Friday against Loyola, and three goals against Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Sunday. The Tigers came back to beat Loyola 3-2, but fell to UWM by the same score.
Senior goalkeeper Paula Pritzen was pulled for sophomore Jessica Gwin after the third goal Sunday. Gwin started the first five games for the Tigers this season, while Pritzen has started the last three.
All of the games that Gwin started were road games that the Tigers either lost or tied. All of Pritzen’s starts came in home games, the first two of which were won by Missouri.
Missouri Head coach Bryan Blitz said that the decision for who will start in goal next weekend will be determined in practice this week.
“I think we’re good to go, we’re excited to get into conference and ready for whatever they bring to us,” Pritzen said.
Conference play begins Friday when Missouri hosts rival Kansas. Kansas went 4-4-0 in out-of-conference play, while Missouri went 2-4-2.
Another problem for the Tigers has been inexperience on defense. There are no senior defenders on the team, and only Jessie Crabtree and Mallory Stipetich are juniors.
The rest of the primary contributors on defense, Kellie Gavigan, Jessica Greer, Sarah Thune and Kelsey Mulcahy, are all sophomores.
But Blitz does not think that the defenders are the only reason that the team has given up a lot of goals.
“I think it starts with team defense, it starts with our pressing, more team defending than just the back three,” said Blitz after the Sunday game. “We weren’t as high-pressure as we needed to be, and they’re a very quick counter-attacking team and we didn’t have enough pressure on the ball.”
Blitz also preaches mental toughness to his team, and Jessica Gwin agrees that has been an issue.
“Honestly (a problem is) our mentality, not lowering our game to the level of our opponents,” Gwin said.
Only one defender has registered a goal or an assist this season, Sarah Thune, who scored the first goal for the Tigers against UWM.
After playing Kansas on Friday, the Tigers will be in the thick of conference play with four consecutive weekends against conference opponents Friday and Sunday. No conference opponents finished non-conference play with a losing record, and four opponents won seven non-conference games.
Missouri has won the Big 12 the past two seasons, and Blitz believes that a top three finish in the conference this year will give them a shot to play in the NCAA tournament. Despite winning just two out-of-conference games, the Tigers played a difficult schedule with five road games and games against three ranked teams. One of those teams, North Carolina, is the top-ranked team in the country.
“We’ve definitely come a long way, and overcame some adversity,” Thune said. “We’re learning, we’re a pretty young team so I think we are ready to get going in conference.”