The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Cougars overwhelmed the UCA men’s soccer team (6-5-5) 2-1 and the Bears ultimately could not secure a win in its Aug. 24 home match.
The game ended in a 2-1 upset for the Bears after they allowed the Cougars (5-1-2) an accidental goal in the second half to put them in the lead.
The Bears started slowly with continuous back-and-forth, but the ball remained predominantly in the Cougars’ possession for the first ten minutes.
“It was pretty bad at first, those first couple minutes. It took us a while to get it going, but we just had to pull through it,” graduate student and midfielder team captain Jerry Gutierrez said about the tough loss.
The Bears had a respectable season last year, with a 6-5-6 record for the regular season and an impressive 5-1-2 record for conference games.
With almost 30 new players on the team, the team endured two-and-a-half weeks of pre-season to prepare.
Not only do they have to get physically prepared, but they have to find a rhythm between teammates to ensure the best outcome for the upcoming season.
“We have to make sure that we get everyone on board with our culture and our playing style. It’s a matter of conditioning everyone,” Gutierrez said.
After UCA’s quick-handed goalie, sophomore Connor Wachtel thwarted some misfired shots from SIUE. Then, the Cougars’ junior forward Ignacio Abeal Pou took advantage of a penalty kick, shacking his team’s first point of the night 13 minutes in.
Midway through the first half, UCA junior midfielder Lucas Shearer and Gutierrez both took shots, but neither could land it in the net. The Bears would try for one more shot in the half but came up empty-handed.
“We were just sluggish and unable to score more. Overall, we just didn’t give it enough,” Gutierrez reflected.
He believes the team could improve their attitudes during the game and increase their eagerness to win, saying, “We all need to make sure we come here with a fighting mentality next time.”
The Bears went into halftime down by one, but the Bears would not let the Cougars prevail so easily.
The second half showed promise as the Bears secured more offensive time, making multiple smooth connecting passes to one another.
Junior midfielder Sohma Ichikawa showed off his impressive footwork by zooming around three opposing players while maintaining possession of the ball. He had three attempted shots throughout the night but could not get one past the Cougars goalie.
It was 60 minutes into the game when the Bears found their first goal of the night and their season, scored by sophomore forward Pietro Fontana and assisted by junior midfielder Devonte Richards and Gutierrez.
With the score being one-to-one, the crowd on the sidelines was amped up that the Bears were putting up a fight.
With only 15 minutes left, Richards tried to put one in but left the crowd hanging.
Two minutes later, a confusing turn of events sent the Bears casually walking away from their opponents — they thought the ball had gone out of bounds — and handed the Cougars their second goal of the night, taking the lead on the scoreboard.
The Cougars didn’t allow the Bears to find another goal, and the game ended 2-1 in favor of the visitors.
“We got one percent better and just have to learn from this one. It’s up to the next game now,” Gutierrez said.
The Bears are on the road to Miami, Florida, for their next game against Florida International University on Friday, Sept. 1, at 6 p.m.
UCA’s next home game is Monday, Sept. 4, against the University of Memphis at 6 p.m.