University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Falls to No. 21 Missouri, 1-0
9/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Due to inclement weather, video highlights of the match against Missouri are not available.
In a battle of two unbeaten teams who had not given up a goal through their first three games of the season, something had to give Sunday at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium. Unfortunately for the Golden Gophers, they were the ones who ended up coming up a little short. Minnesota lost to the Missouri Tigers, ranked No. 21 in the latest Soccer Times poll, 1-0, in a very tightly contested match to drop to 3-1-0 on the season.
Freshman goalkeeper Chelsey Turner (Rochester, Minn.) started the first game of her career for the Golden Gophers and recorded seven saves in the contest. Missouri’s Janelle Cordia scored the only goal on Turner in the 62nd minute.
With some solid defensive play in the first half, both teams displayed why they had yet to give up a goal in the first three games. The Gophers turned away a number of Missouri scoring threats while the Tigers limited Minnesota to just two shots on goal as the teams battled to a scoreless tie through the first 45 minutes.
Missouri had the first scoring opportunity of the game on a corner kick in the 12th minute, but a header by Michelle Collins sailed high over the net. Just three minutes later, Turner made a great diving kick save on a point-blank attempt by Kristin Andrighetto.
The Tigers threatened again around the 20-minute mark with a number of corner kick opportunities, but the Gopher defense was able to hold off the charge. Turner displayed why she was one of the best goalkeepers in the nation in high school with a couple of nice saves during the threat.
Kelsey Hood (Ankeny, Iowa) got Minnesota’s first shot on goal of the game in the 26th minute with a long strike, but Tiger goalkeeper Mallory Forst was able to make the save.
Turner made another tremendous save in the 33rd minute on a long shot by Missouri’s Breanna Thornton. Thornton fired a shot from 25 yards out toward the top of the net, but Turner was able to extend and tip the ball off the crossbar for the save.
More solid defense followed in the second half. In the 55th minute, Missouri’s Ashley Hamblin got out on a run and fired a high shot towards the net, but Turner was again able to extend and tip the ball high for the save.
The Tigers got on the board in the 62nd minute with the goal by Cordia. From just outside the 18-yard box on the right side, Cordia fired a shot high to the opposite post. The shot was just out of the reach of Turner and found the back of the net to give Missouri the 1-0 lead.
Facing a 1-0 deficit, the Golden Gophers turned up the offensive pressure. Lindsey Schwartz (Bettendorf, Iowa) put a shot on goal in the 68th minute from the top of the box, but Forst made a diving save.
On a corner kick opportunity just two minutes later, Clare Grimwood (Eagan, Minn.) tried to catch the Tiger defense off guard by playing a short pass in quickly to Kaitlin Wagner (Plymouth, Minn.). Wagner dished it right back to Grimwood who fired a cross from the right side, but the ball sailed wide.
The Gophers kept battling and had a couple of opportunities to tie the game in the final five minutes but could not find the equalizer. Minnesota’s best chance came with two minutes remaining in the contest when Schwartz got out on a run behind the Missouri defense. Forst came out to break up the play but could not secure the ball. However, she gave the Tiger defense just enough time to get back, and they collapsed Schwartz to prevent her from getting a quality shot off.
The Golden Gophers will travel to Providence, R.I., next weekend for the Brown Invitational. Minnesota meets Army on Friday at 6 p.m., CST, and will play Brown on Sunday at noon, CST. The Gophers will return home the following weekend for two matches, Sept. 15-17. No. 22 Dartmouth and Northern Colorado will be in town to take part in the Gopher Invitational.
Post-game quotes
Head coach Mikki Denney Wright
On the tough loss:
“Both teams had their chances and they finished one and we didn’t. We’re disappointed we didn’t finish some of the opportunities we had. But our team grew today. We needed a game like that to see what we’re made of and to see our defense grow and our attack grow. Our hats go off to Missouri – they are a very, very good team. That was by far the most pressure we’ve seen and I was proud of how our kids responded through 90 minutes. It was just a matter of who was going to finish their chances, and we didn’t.”
On what the team can take away from the game:
“It’s never encouraging to lose. On any given day, we have to find a way to win these kinds of games. There was a lot of good that can be taken from today and we have a long season ahead of us. We have to grow and learn. We have to take the loss and move on and get better, and that’s what we’re going to do.
“We needed that competition to see what we can do and I think we found out that we can play. Despite the loss, I think our kids walked away feeling pretty good about their performance today.”
On the play of Chelsey Turner:
“They (Turner and Lindsey Dare) have been battling all year in practice. They knew coming into the games this weekend they were going to split them. Chelsey has worked since the spring for this opportunity so she was more than ready. She made some big-time saves today.”
Game Notes
Minnesota gave up its first goal of the season on Sunday against Missouri. The Tigers have yet to let anyone score.
The Golden Gophers extended a school-record streak of 14 consecutive matches, dating back to Sept. 25, 2005, in which they have allowed one goal or fewer.
The Gophers have allowed just one goal through their first four games. The only other time a Minnesota team held its first four opponents to a combined one goal was in 1996.
The last time the Gophers allowed just one goal over a four-game stretch was Sept. 30-Oct. 9, 2005. Prior to that, Minnesota had not had such a streak since shutting out four consecutive opponents from Oct. 1-13, 2000.
Freshman goalkeeper Chelsey Turner (Rochester, Minn.) started the first match of her career and made seven saves.
Freshman Kirsten Zachman (Mahtomedi, Minn.) saw her first action of her career in the second half against the Tigers.
