The ping of the ball hitting the goal post is what the DePauw men's soccer team remembers after the game.
It wasn't the goal by freshman Adrian Ables, but the two times the ball hit the post and another was one off the crossbar.
Despite a 1-0 victory over Anderson University (4-7), players and head coach Brad Hauter called the match "frustrating." The Tigers (6-1-2) outshot the visiting Ravens 28-9 and dominated possession throughout the game.
But it was the balls that didn't score which soured the win.
"I'd rather score more goals," Ables said. "I should have had more than one goal. We just have to calm it down. We're all really fast - we need to slow it down and roll it in the net.
"The thing is, we all know it's not good enough, and we're going to do better because we should be smashing teams."
In the two tie games, DePauw held the advantage in shots by a large margin (26-4 against Hanover College, 8-1 against the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology). The Tigers weren't able to score in either of those games, and Wednesday nights' match had a chance of being the same.
However, Ables' goal came in the 27th minute starting at midfield by sophomore Andy Morrison. Morrison slipped a ball through two defenders to a sprinting sophomore Nate Snyder down the right sideline. Snyder elevated the ball to the left side of the field which fell at the feet of Ables. Anderson goalkeeper sophomore Chris Maloney came out in desperation, but Ables laced a shot to the far post for his second goal of the season.
But the second half provided constant frustration and consternation.
In the 63rd minute, junior George Elliott beat three defenders into the 18-yard box. He chipped a pass into the middle to find Snyder, who was one-on-one with the goalkeeper. His shot glanced off the right post.
With nine minutes remaining, sophomore Patrick Reineke unleashed a shot from the right side which glanced off the far left post. To top it off, in the 85th minute, Alieu Musa's 18-yard shot was denied by the crossbar.
"We're creating the chances for the right guys in dangerous spots," Hauter said. "The execution is where we're breaking down. It may just be a mental lapse in some of these opponents. It may be something in the way we're doing in the preparation that's causing it. But it's certainly unacceptable. There's not a guy that walked off the field pleased with the result."
Nine games into the 17-game regular season, Hauter said all his team needs is more training in practice.
What is the cure for the scoring struggle?
Answer: repetition.
"It's like shooting free throws," Hauter said. "We need to do more finishing, and we need to put those guys in these positions more often in training."
Ables added: "We have the speed up front where we can run, and we have one of the best keepers in the conference. We definitely have the stars to be No. 1, we just have to bring it together."
The win was DePauw's sixth shutout of the season, but also one that exposes DePauw's continuous weakness of converting scoring chances.
"This is a team that should be 9-0," Hauter said. "They understand they should be 9-0, 6-1-2 is an absolutely disgusting record for this team, there's not a guy who looks at it and is proud of that record."
The Tigers return to conference play when they face Kenyon College (4-4-1, 0-0-1 NCAC) at Boswell Field at 2 p.m. Saturday.