No Offense

Stingers End Pre-season With Scoreless Draw

SportsPaolo Mingarelli — Published September 6, 2011

Concordia’s women’s soccer team closed out the pre-season yesterday by shutting down the opposition Middlebury College from Vermont—but unfortunately failed to score a goal themselves.

“First, I think you have to get your defence down before you start working on offense,” said Stingers defender Lindsey Brooks.

The Stingers played some very stingy defensive soccer for an extended 120-minute exhibition matchup on Monday afternoon.

“We spent a lot of our pre-season being well organized defensively. Other than a free-kick where our goalie had to make a pretty big save, they didn’t really have any dangerous opportunities on our net,” stated head coach Jorge Sanchez.

The keepers noticed this lack of scoring chances. “It felt good to be there for the team,” said goalkeeper Brittany O’Rourke of saving the free kick. “They didn’t have a lot of opportunities.”

This defensive system was especially irritating to the opposition during the first portion of the game, when Middlebury was consistently attempting to play the ball towards the middle of the box and was just as often being sent back towards the sidelines.

“Players are starting to understand the tactics. They can still get better, but at least they are understanding what we’re asking them to do,” noted Sanchez.
Both the flow and strategy of the team’s game seemed to change at times, but this was not the Stingers’ intention.

“Because we were making so many changes, the players that were coming off were not getting the chance to right away apply what we were asking for,” said Sanchez. This was an issue for both teams, as they wished to give as many players as possible some playing time before the real season started.

One Stinger who showcased her talent on the pitch was Brooks, who was a dominant force in shutting down not only the opposition’s strikers, but also putting together a number of runs up and down the sidelines, giving Concordia ample chances to break the deadlock.

Brooks focused more on the team’s overall defensive strength, however.

“It was a lot of soccer, and in the first 40 minutes I definitely believe we played very well, making great passes, communicating a lot, which is key,” she said.

Asked about the upcoming season, Sanchez was optimistic about his team’s chances given their strong work ethic. “It’s going to be a lot of hard work to make the playoffs, but I think we’re going to surprise some people. It’s one game at a time; you give it your best and adjust accordingly.”

The Stingers open up their regular season at home Sept. 9 against Laval. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.

This article originally appeared in Volume 32, Issue 02, published September 6, 2011.