Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Portland State
Easy Goals Costly for Wildcats in Loss to PSU
10/17/2013 11:24:00 PM | Women's Soccer
OGDEN, Utah -- The Weber State women's soccer team dropped an important Big Sky Conference match on Thursday, falling 3-1 to Portland State at Wildcat Soccer Field.
The Wildcats held possession for the majority of the match, but mistakes led to a pair of easy goals for the Vikings, putting Weber State in a hole that proved too big to climb out of.
"You can't give away easy goals," said WSU head coach Tim Crompton. "If you give away easy goals, it is a formula for losing. You are not going to win games if you do that. We possessed the ball well, and more than doubled them in shot attempts, but just gave away easy goals today. But, as disappointing as it is, we have to be able to put this behind us and move on to the next match."
Weber State generated two quality scoring chances over the first 20 minutes, but could not convert either opportunity. Chansi Crompton weaved through a trio of Viking defenders inside the box, and placed a low shot at the far post. The attempt was turned away with a fingertip save by Viking goalkeeper Caitlin Plese. Minutes later, Mackenzie Harrison got an open shot at the top of the box, but the shot sailed a bit high and found the crossbar instead of the net.
In the 26th minute, a centering pass got behind WSU goalkeeper Ryann Waldman in front of the goal, and a failed clearance found the feet of Portland State's Ariana Cooley, who fired a shot into an open net from 10 yards out for the first score of the match.
In the 56th minute, Cooley received another gift as a PSU corner kick eluded Waldman and the Wildcat defense just inside the near post and bounced off the Viking midfielder inside of the six-yard box and crept into the goal.
Weber State put the pressure on, and recorded the majority of its 11 second half shots over the final 30 minutes of the match.
The Wildcats finally broke through in the 82nd minute when Chansi Crompton found Mackenzie Day with a through ball into the box. Day finished with a strike from 15 yards away, cutting the deficit in half.
Less than five minutes later, the Vikings put the game away as Tamia Hasan got behind the WSU defense. WSU defender Shaylee Petersen broke up Hasan's run at goal, but was whistled for a foul in the box, and sent off with a controversial red card. The controversy continued on the penalty kick, as the referee signaled Hasan to proceed with her kick with Waldman not set on her line, and the attempt was unchallenged to the left post.
Weber State outshot the Vikings 17 to 8 overall on the day, but put only five of those on-goal, while PSU put four shots on target, scoring three of the four attempts.
The Wildcats dropped to 7-4-3 overall on the season, and 3-2-1 in Big Sky play with the loss. The Vikings improved to 9-4-2 overall and now have a league-leading 19 points in the conference with a 6-0-1 record.
