Lady Hawks suffer from too much of a good thing in 4-0 loss to Lake Center
Lake Center senior forward Natalie Rostedt is good. She’s very good.
On Tuesday, Sept. 6 at Lake Center High School, the Hiland Lady Hawks saw just how good good can be, when Rostedt wailed away to the tune of scoring all four goals in the Tigers’ 4-0 victory over Hiland.
Yet despite Rostedt’s incredible effort, Hiland head coach Pat Miller’s focus following the contest was squarely on trying to cure his team’s offensive woes. Firing shot after shot the second half, nothing found the mark, and it was as though the Lady Hawks were firing at a goal that had shrunk to the size of a mailbox.
The 4-0 loss moves the Hiland record to 3-3-1 on the season, and since exploding for nine goals in its win over Loudonville on August 27, the Lady Hawks have gone 1-2-1 in their past four games, garnering a total of two goals.
The lack of scoring has frustrated the team and the coaching staff, and has gotten to the point where head coach Pat Miller has moved his best defender, Regan Miller, to the forward spot, hoping the athletic senior can generate a spark in the scoring column.
“I don’t know, I just don’t know what the problem is right now,” said Miller. “We’re going to have to figure it out and work our way through it. We’re getting good looks, just like we did in the St. Thomas Aquinas game (which they lost 3-0). Those two teams are very similar in talent, and I felt like we actually produced more good scoring opportunities in both games, but we aren’t converting any of those opportunities into goals.”
Considering the Lady Hawks lost 4-0, Miller was pleasantly pleased with the way his team played. He noted that goalie Julie Raber had been injured in practice and was unable to get full extension in her right arm, which Miller felt cost the team two of the goals on balls she would have normally gotten. The other goals were breakdowns in which Rostedt hit good shots and made Hiland pay for its errant ways.
“Rostedt is a very strong on the ball player, and one time she simply made a beautiful turn on one of our defenders and found herself alone,” said Miller. “The other times I think we backed off when we should have been stepping up, and you can’t afford to do that against that kind of a talented player.”
Having given up three first half goals in which Hiland was playing into a stiff wind and Lake Center with it, the Lady Hawks took command of possession the second half when they had the wind advantage, but when you don’t put the ball in the net, it doesn’t matter how much time you spend controlling the action.
Rostedt put the Tigers on top in the game’s eighth minute with a blast past Raber that she couldn’t have gotten if she were totally healthy and possessed the skills of Team USA women’s goalie Hope Solo. Rostedt then connected again in the 28th and 35th minutes to post a 3-0 Lake Center lead at the break.
The second half consisted of Hiland taking shot after shot at senior keeper Anna McMullen, and while some looks were great, and others were fired out of frustration from deep, with little chance of going in, it was an offensively dominant half for Hiland. Irelie Riggle produced several good shots that didn’t find the mark, Josie Beachy sent one over the top and then clanked one off the right bar, Allison Hochstetler had an open look in front of the net and couldn’t connect, and Hannah Anderson hit a solid shot that was stopped by McMullen. By the time Riggle’s shot off of a direct kick banged off the top cross bar, it had gotten to the point where it was almost humorous.
The Tigers got off few second half shots, but Rostedt managed to make one of the count with seven minutes to play, producing her fourth score of the evening.
“I am looked to for scoring, but this is pretty unusual,” said Rostedt of her Herculean effort. “I have to give my teammates credit for getting the ball to me in great position. Twice Elaina (McCarty) hit me in perfect position, and all I had to do was drive it home. It was pretty fun because I am coming off of an injury and it just felt good to be out here competing. We really needed a win, and this was a good one for us.”
Miller said he believes injuries have played a role in his team’s anemic scoring production, noting that Riggle is not at full speed and neither Sarah Haun nor Hannah Stoneman were able to play at all due to injuries.
“We don’t want to make excuses, and we have to get better at finishing, but our injuries have thrown our rotations out of whack,” said Miller. “We just have to fight throw and figure out how to get this done. I would much rather be going through these pains right now than later in the season. Now is the time when we can work through them and figure things out before tournaments get here.”
As for moving Miller up to the offensive side of the ball, Coach Miller said that it isn’t easy taking a player with the defensive skills his senior stopper has, but at the same time, he knows he has to try to generate some offense from somewhere, and the ultra-athletic Miller is certainly an option, even though she has a ways to go in learning the forward position.
It also helps that Miller has found a very solid defensive contributor in young Hailey Miller, who has emerged off the junior varsity team to contribute heavily to the defensive side for the Lady Hawks.
“Moving Regan up is something we will look at,” said Miller. “Our last two games have been tough on us because we have gotten beaten pretty handily by a couple of teams that we feel we are on par with. We just have to stay positive because we don’t feel like we are playing bad soccer right now, the scoreboard just doesn’t look like it. We created some great chances, and this didn’t feel like a four goal game. We’ve just gotten behind the last two games early, and then we’ve put added pressure on ourselves to produce, and that hasn’t helped.”
On Tuesday, Sept. 6 at Lake Center High School, the Hiland Lady Hawks saw just how good good can be, when Rostedt wailed away to the tune of scoring all four goals in the Tigers’ 4-0 victory over Hiland.
Yet despite Rostedt’s incredible effort, Hiland head coach Pat Miller’s focus following the contest was squarely on trying to cure his team’s offensive woes. Firing shot after shot the second half, nothing found the mark, and it was as though the Lady Hawks were firing at a goal that had shrunk to the size of a mailbox.
The 4-0 loss moves the Hiland record to 3-3-1 on the season, and since exploding for nine goals in its win over Loudonville on August 27, the Lady Hawks have gone 1-2-1 in their past four games, garnering a total of two goals.
The lack of scoring has frustrated the team and the coaching staff, and has gotten to the point where head coach Pat Miller has moved his best defender, Regan Miller, to the forward spot, hoping the athletic senior can generate a spark in the scoring column.
“I don’t know, I just don’t know what the problem is right now,” said Miller. “We’re going to have to figure it out and work our way through it. We’re getting good looks, just like we did in the St. Thomas Aquinas game (which they lost 3-0). Those two teams are very similar in talent, and I felt like we actually produced more good scoring opportunities in both games, but we aren’t converting any of those opportunities into goals.”
Considering the Lady Hawks lost 4-0, Miller was pleasantly pleased with the way his team played. He noted that goalie Julie Raber had been injured in practice and was unable to get full extension in her right arm, which Miller felt cost the team two of the goals on balls she would have normally gotten. The other goals were breakdowns in which Rostedt hit good shots and made Hiland pay for its errant ways.
“Rostedt is a very strong on the ball player, and one time she simply made a beautiful turn on one of our defenders and found herself alone,” said Miller. “The other times I think we backed off when we should have been stepping up, and you can’t afford to do that against that kind of a talented player.”
Having given up three first half goals in which Hiland was playing into a stiff wind and Lake Center with it, the Lady Hawks took command of possession the second half when they had the wind advantage, but when you don’t put the ball in the net, it doesn’t matter how much time you spend controlling the action.
Rostedt put the Tigers on top in the game’s eighth minute with a blast past Raber that she couldn’t have gotten if she were totally healthy and possessed the skills of Team USA women’s goalie Hope Solo. Rostedt then connected again in the 28th and 35th minutes to post a 3-0 Lake Center lead at the break.
The second half consisted of Hiland taking shot after shot at senior keeper Anna McMullen, and while some looks were great, and others were fired out of frustration from deep, with little chance of going in, it was an offensively dominant half for Hiland. Irelie Riggle produced several good shots that didn’t find the mark, Josie Beachy sent one over the top and then clanked one off the right bar, Allison Hochstetler had an open look in front of the net and couldn’t connect, and Hannah Anderson hit a solid shot that was stopped by McMullen. By the time Riggle’s shot off of a direct kick banged off the top cross bar, it had gotten to the point where it was almost humorous.
The Tigers got off few second half shots, but Rostedt managed to make one of the count with seven minutes to play, producing her fourth score of the evening.
“I am looked to for scoring, but this is pretty unusual,” said Rostedt of her Herculean effort. “I have to give my teammates credit for getting the ball to me in great position. Twice Elaina (McCarty) hit me in perfect position, and all I had to do was drive it home. It was pretty fun because I am coming off of an injury and it just felt good to be out here competing. We really needed a win, and this was a good one for us.”
Miller said he believes injuries have played a role in his team’s anemic scoring production, noting that Riggle is not at full speed and neither Sarah Haun nor Hannah Stoneman were able to play at all due to injuries.
“We don’t want to make excuses, and we have to get better at finishing, but our injuries have thrown our rotations out of whack,” said Miller. “We just have to fight throw and figure out how to get this done. I would much rather be going through these pains right now than later in the season. Now is the time when we can work through them and figure things out before tournaments get here.”
As for moving Miller up to the offensive side of the ball, Coach Miller said that it isn’t easy taking a player with the defensive skills his senior stopper has, but at the same time, he knows he has to try to generate some offense from somewhere, and the ultra-athletic Miller is certainly an option, even though she has a ways to go in learning the forward position.
It also helps that Miller has found a very solid defensive contributor in young Hailey Miller, who has emerged off the junior varsity team to contribute heavily to the defensive side for the Lady Hawks.
“Moving Regan up is something we will look at,” said Miller. “Our last two games have been tough on us because we have gotten beaten pretty handily by a couple of teams that we feel we are on par with. We just have to stay positive because we don’t feel like we are playing bad soccer right now, the scoreboard just doesn’t look like it. We created some great chances, and this didn’t feel like a four goal game. We’ve just gotten behind the last two games early, and then we’ve put added pressure on ourselves to produce, and that hasn’t helped.”
Published: September 6, 2011
