By Kevin Kyle
Inauspicious?
Okay.
Indicative?
Maybe.
A disaster?
Hardly.
Suffering a 3-0 loss to hosting River Light FC in its United Soccer League W Heartland Division season opener Wednesday night at the Spartan Athletic Park on the campus of Aurora University in Aurora, IL, Sioux Falls City Football Club players have begun the process of putting the contest behind them.
To say the hard-fought tilt was as one-sided as the final scoreline might indicate is an overstatement, on all levels, as City carried much of the offensive play over the initial 25 minutes of the game. And had last season’s Northern Conference Offensive Player of the Year (in the WPSL) Mia Mullenmeister managed to beat River Light goalkeeper Molly Vapensky with her well-placed, 16-yard curler in the 23rd minute, the final tally and outcome would likely have been different.
SFCFC striker Nadja Meite bursts past River Light FC’s Xcaret Pineda during second-half action Wednesday night in Aurora, IL.
“Yeah, I really hoped that was going in, but the keeper made a really nice save there,” said Mullenmeister. “It was early in the game, so I was trying to test the keeper. It was a tiny window, but I thought, ‘why not try to bend it around her.’”
As the City striker noted, Vapensky was equal to the task – getting her fingertips to the creative effort and parrying the shot just over the crossbar to keep the contest scoreless.
It wasn’t long before a similar bending blast broke the deadlock.
Having shifted from a right-side flanking position to a central/left midfield role, RL playmaker Devin Lynch deftly delivered a lofted penetrating ball just inside the host’s attacking half. On the right flank, a sprinting Sydni Fink seized the opportunity. Having eluded a sliding tackle from City left back Isabella Boccia Gomes de Moraes, Fink strode into the penalty box and unleashed a fierce left-footed shot. The RL midfielder’s curving strike proved just out of reach of the outstretched right paw of City goalkeeper Campbell Fischer – hitting the side netting on the left side of the goal to put the hosts up 1-0 in the 34th minute of play.
Until that point, City had looked the more cohesive side, stringing attacking passes together well while keeping RL forays in the box at a minimum. City finished with six shots in the opening stanza, while the hosts mustered only four (10-7 RL for the game). However, with Fink’s tally, the hosts (55% possession, 65% pass completion) gained a modicum of control over the remaining 11 minutes of the half.
“I thought we definitely controlled the ball for a lot of the first half,” said Mullenmeister. “We have so many talented forwards and created a lot of chances. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to score one and we must continue and learn to grow from it so we can finish more of those opportunities.”
Down by a lone tally entering the second half, City looked to amplify its intensive first-half push that saw Mullenmesiter and striking partners Mia Bosch and Haille Christensen send shots toward Vapensky off decisive through balls by City’s starting midfield quartet of Avery Korsching, Mali Van Meeteran, Madie Donovan and Taylor Thomas.
“We knew we were having chances, and we wanted to continue to create more of those in the second half,” said Mullenmesiter. “We wanted to come out with a lot of energy and create more offensive opportunities.”
At the same time, City was confident in sticking with its three-back defensive system in trying to push players forward.
“We started a 3-4-3,” said City starting center back Madeline (Mo) Malone. “A lot of teams would rather play a four-back (system), but we feel like we have the personnel to play with three in the back. We have a lot of talent up top and in the midfield, so we feel confident playing three behind and pushing numbers forward. I think what happened on that first goal is we were shifted too far to the right; what you give up in a three-back defense is space out wide. No one else was close enough to help Isabella, apply pressure, and… it was a damn good shot!”
The visitors sent a threesome of substitutes into the fray to open the second half, as striker Nadja Meite, fullback Isabelle Snowden and midfielder Katharina Oelschlaeger spelled Bosch, newly slotted back Lulu Moreno and Donovan, respectively.
SFCFC midfielder Avery Korsching harasses a RL opponent during the second half of Wednesday night’s USL W Heartland Conference soccer match in Aurora, IL.
Unfortunately for City, the trio hardly managed to get up to game speed before the visitors were facing a two-goal deficit.
Scampering down the left flank, RL midfielder Anya Gulbrandsen capped her dribble with a hard, low cross. With fortune eluding Boccia Gomes de Moraes once more, Gulbrandsen’s drive caromed off the outstretched leg of the City defender and past a frozen Fischer – creating another opportunity for the RL faithful to rise from their rain-soaked bleacher seats.
“That was really unlucky; it happens… rain, water, slick… just happens,” said Malone. “We could have changed our system, but even when we put our subs in, we still felt we had the personnel to create offensive opportunities. We needed to get a little closer (marking), but they had three really good opportunities and they scored.
“The third goal was through a lot of traffic in front of our goalie, and Campbell couldn’t see exactly. It was a pretty good shot (through the traffic) on the right side of the slot. So, not much you can do about that. We can definitely learn more in our three-back system. I don’t think we need to transition to a four-back system, but we definitely should see how we can maneuver our three-back system to be more compact and prevent that from happening again.”
Xcaret Pineda’s effort was indeed finely placed, as her low, skipping pop beat Campbell to the City keeper’s left midway through the final frame – capping the scoring on the night.
Despite putting more fresh legs on the pitch with 20 minutes to play, City (45 % possession, 55% pass completion) was rarely able to penetrate the RL defensive line.
Though the SFCFC players were visibly upset at the final whistle, most appeared to already be processing the loss – something returning members of the team haven’t often had occasion to do.
“I can’t remember the last time I got beat that bad, in college or with Sioux Falls.” said Malone. “Everyone handles defeat differently; I go a little non-verbal because I’m like, ‘Oh, that just happened.’ I feel what I need to feel, that night or the next day, and then it’s a new day. I need to figure out what we need to change. I’ll watch film, see their goals, look at certain aspects of our field positioning and see how to prevent those (goal-scoring) situations from happening again.”
Time will tell.
SFCFC was back at it Thursday afternoon with a 75-minute training session on the very field it yielded three counters to River Light. And addressing ‘issues’ in attack and in defense will at a premium as the club prepares to face Chicago Dutch Lions at 6 p.m. Friday at Dominican University (West Campus Field) in River Forest, IL.
“The good thing about this team is everybody is so focused on the next thing,” said Mullenmeister, prior to the training session. “I think today at training we’ll have good energy, be looking forward to tomorrow. We’ll put all of that energy into learning from last night’s game but also moving forward against the Dutch Lions.”
“I think the main talking points will be about the goals,” added Malone. “We’ll talk about our positioning on that first goal. Obviously, it was a buildup of plays, not necessarily just one play. We’ll look at film, back up the frame to just before the long pass and see… what were we doing, how was the press, how was the midfield cohesion – sliding over into coverage. You can still be upset about the game, but we need to change our mindset and be like, “Okay, we lost… it is what it is,’ but now we must prepare to face the Dutch Lions. If we’re still focused on the River Light loss, we’re not going to do well with them.
“We’ll figure out the three-back system better and see what went wrong positioning-wise… and work on our press. We weren’t as dynamic as we wanted to be with our press last night. Two or three of us were going but not everyone was going – leaving Finch and Fink open to create threats on our goal.”
Friday evening’s contest is shaping up to be a barnburner, as both clubs are winless in the first week of the season. River Light knocked off CDL (0-1) by a score of 2-0, May 18, while SFCFC dropped its game to RL 3-0 Wednesday evening.
SFCFC 0 0 – 0
RLFC 1 2 – 3