William Allen White said, “I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.”
After this weekend, the Saint Louis University women’s soccer team could probably say the same thing.
The Billikens took on what was expected to be their most challenging opponent of the season, No. 8 Connecticut at the Rocky Rococo Classic in Madison, Wis., this weekend.
Despite a 2-0 loss, the Bills overcame their nerves that had settled in before the game and discovered they were capable of being competitive against high-profile teams. During the game, the team learned an important lesson which is sure to carry them through the rest of the season.
“We learned not to be scared of anyone,” said senior forward Jenny Kehl. “UConn wasn’t necessarily a better team than us, but we made them look better by giving them a lot of space. Once we stopped giving them space, we controlled the ball much better.”
Sunday afternoon, the Billikens were competitive with UConn throughout the match and began the game aggressively, but UConn put the ball in the net first during the seventh minute of the game.
“In the first half, we were nervous playing a top ten team. We gave (UConn) more space than they deserved, and because of that, they ended up getting two goals off of us in the first half,” said senior forward Jenny Kehl.
UConn’s Jennifer Sullivan lobbed a shot to the upper right corner of the net which Billiken goalkeeper Meghann Burke could not get her hands on.
In the 23rd minute of the game, the Huskies overpowered the Billikens again when a ball from Sullivan found its way to Kristen Graczyk, who managed to elude the lone defender in the box to face Burke one-on-one.
The ball snuck into the goal under Burke on the left to put the Huskies up 2-0.
In the second half, the Bills tried to rally and saw several good looks on offense. Christie Cigno made a run in the 50th minute after receiving a long ball from Kelly Ferguson, but Cigno was immediately met by UConn goalkeeper Maria Yatrakis.
Moments later, Ferguson hoped to put the Bills on the scoreboard with her rocket from 30 yards out, but the shot floated just over the crossbar.
“In the second half, we were not scared of UConn anymore,” Kehl said. “We played them head-to-head and ended up having more chances than they did.”
During the 64th minute, Cigno was fouled at the top of the box drawing a deadball, but the ball again snuck over the crossbar and diminished the Bills’ hope of scoring.
Cigno and Ferguson took two of the four shots managed by the Billikens, while UConn was able to triple that number. Friday, the Bills downed Davidson College in a 2-0 decision to open the tournament. The Billikens breezed past the Wildcats, outshooting them 12-2.
“Against Davidson, we kept the pressure on throughout most of the game,” Kehl said. “It was only a matter of time until we scored. We finally put one in after having chance after chance to score.”
After a scoreless first half, the Billikens posted their first goal of the outing after testing Davidson’s goalkeeper Sarah Hobart six times.
Erin Schwetye brought the ball up from midfield and found Kehl inside the box. Kehl sent the ball back to Schwetye, who sent the ball into the goal from 15 yards back.
The Bills scored an insurance goal in the 80th minute after Schwetye was fouled on the right side. After the foul, Tressa Pecher lobbed the ball inside where Christie Cigno headed it into the goal.
To seal the shutout, Burke only needed to make one save, which came in the first half after a deadball found its way towards the Billikens’ goal, but stopped safely in Burke’s hands.
This weekend, the Billikens will wrap up a stretch of road games beginning with their first Conference USA match of the season at Memphis. Sunday, the Bills will square off against UAB, taking with them the experience and fearlessness gained over the weekend.
