The Lipscomb women’s soccer (9-4-1, 3-1) lost to the Stetson Hatters (6-4-2, 3-0) with a score of 2-0 on Friday night at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex.
The team returned home after a three conference game winning streak at Kennesaw State, Jacksonville, and North Florida.
The game started slow with an early goal from Stetson in the first five minutes. However, the game quickly switched to a defensive fight between the Bisons and the Hatters.
“For most of the game I thought we played well,” head coach Shannon O’Brien said. “We dictated the tempo.”
Lipscomb defense continued to fight throughout the first half with three goal saves by goalkeeper Anna Buhigas, but switched to strong offense in the second half.
“We created a lot of good chances, we just couldn’t score,” O’Brien said. “Which in the end is the hardest part of the game.”
The game was full of near misses for the Bisons, with ten shots in the first half and twelve shots in the second half, outshooting Stetson by double.
“The last ten minutes we gambled we pulled a center back and threw her forward, and they got that second goal,” O’Brien said. “It’s a risk/reward thing; if it works out and you get a goal with an extra forward, great but if it doesn’t, well that’s what happened.”
As the game neared its’ end, the Bisons started to lose the control over the ball which lead to a chaotic finish to the tough game.
With seven minutes left in the second half Stetson drove the ball from center field into the net scoring the second goal of the game.
“It was just an unlikely deflection,” O’Brien said. “But at that point in time we needed to throw caution to the wind and see if we could score the equalizer.”
The Lady Bisons continue at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex on Sunday at 1 p.m. against FGCU.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics