"It's like no one wants to shoot," senior goalkeeper Caroline Kerr said in frustration to her DePauw women's soccer sideline after watching them struggle offensively during the first half of a scrimmage against Rose-Hulman Institue of Technology on Monday night.
Despite controlling the ball in Rose-Hulman's side of the field for most of the first half, the team could not get any shots on goal. The best attempts came from sophomore Erin Walsworth's header that went high over the net, or junior Angela Cotherman's shot from close range that was saved by the Rose-Hulman goalkeeper.
"In the first half we had a lot of the ball, but we weren't as dangerous in the third half (of the field) as we needed to be," head coach John Carter said. "Shots were outside the 18 and not very dangerous inside. "
However, in the second half, the team played more aggressively, and more shot opportunities arose. The most notable came from junior Sophia Da Silveira whose shot from just outside the box caught the post in the second half.
"Part of it was that (Rose-Hulman) came out and started playing more aggressive and harder so it opened them up a little bit," Carter said. "We told them we really need to focus on the attacking third, and we needed to find longer penetrating balls. We challenged their backs more and became more dangerous."
The Tigers were finally able to break through late in the second half with goals coming in the 83 and 84 minutes of the game from freshmen Megann Lear and Sarah White respectively. Despite the lack of goal scoring and opportunities, players feel as if this scrimmage was an improvement from their previous one.
"If you look at the shots from last game to this game it's a lot better," Da Silveira said.
The Tigers open up their regular season this weekend in the Illinois Wesleyan Invitational against University of California, Santa Cruz. It's no surprise what the team will be working on during the upcoming week to prepare for the games:
"Posses and playing in and around the 18 will be our focus in these next four days," Carter said. "Because if we can do that, then we'll be pretty good."