By: Yvan Lafortune, Contributing Writer
On Wednesday October 30th, The Saint Leo Lions faced the Lynn Fighting Knights on the soccer field. The Lions were definitely out of luck as none of their attacks seemed to bear fruits. The loss at home marks Saint Leo’s sixth defeat and brought their record to 5 victories, 9 losses, and 1 draw.
Saint Leo’s main issue in this game could be summarized by an explanation of their playing style. Saint Leo dominated the Knights in the midfield and relentlessly attacked the opponent’s goal with every single touch and every single offensive breakthrough. Recognizing the issue did not require an extensive knowledge of soccer. The women’s soccer team insisted on attacking the Knights on their flanks, however, the problem was that the opposing team’s fallbacks were faster than the Lions’ wingers. This resulted in multiple defensive stops from the Knights. The game plan remained the same even in the second half despite the fact that everyone could see what was stopping the team from scoring. If the attacks were conducted in the middle rather than being focused on the flanks, maybe the outcome of the game could have been different.
Even through the loss, Saint Leo still found a way to shine and never let the fans lose hope by playing beautifully. Saint Leo managed to shoot the ball 10 times during the game. What is praiseworthy is that 8 out of those 10 shots were made on target, in other terms, it means that they were shot directly at the opponent’s goal. A testimony of the attacking endeavors of the women’s soccer team can be observed in the number of corners that they stole from the Knights. Saint Leo had 5 corners against 4 for the Knights. Most impressive, the women’s soccer team did not fall for the offside trap at all during the game. This requires a lot of discipline and field awareness as even professional soccer players tend to fall for the offside trap. An area where there is need for improvement is foul management. The Lions fouled the Knights 13 times. This is dangerous as the more the teams commit fouls, the more the referee feels the urgency to dish out cards.
Occean Emmers, senior student majoring in Biology said: “It was truly a beautiful game but the result was disappointing”. The taste of the loss felt really bitter to the fans as they had grown accustomed to the team and were hoping for a win. As it is surely disappointing for the fans, it is far more disappointing for the team. On paper, the Lions were the most dominant team and should have won the game. However, things were not going according to plan and the Lions ended up losing the game. Julia Ortiz, senior goalkeeper for the Saint Leo Lions had a great night individually as she defended the goal and recorded 7 saves. Kennedy Messina, sophomore, also had a great individual night as she recorded two of the 10 shots of the Lions.
The fans remain optimistic as they know the team will bounce back and go back to their winning ways. The Saint Leo Lions will wrap up their season on Nov. 5th, as they host Embry Riddle at 7:00 pm.
