St. Cloud State soccer defeats Michigan Tech in battle of Huskies
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HOUGHTON -- Despite getting off to a much faster start than they did Friday, the Michigan Tech soccer team could not translate that effort into goals, and ultimately fell to St. Cloud State Sunday at Kearly Stadium, 3-0.
The Huskies could not find an answer for forward Linsey Trapino, who scored twice in the second half to seal the win.
"St. Cloud’s a good team," said Huskies coach Melissa Kuhar. "Their No. 22 (Trapino) up top will be a potential All-American this year. She’s good. She’s a good player.
"But, I think we also shot ourselves in the foot about a couple times on those goals."
Kuhar liked a lot of the effort her team had in the second half of the game, where they generated four shots on goal and 10 shot attempts over the course of the 45 minutes.
"We created 10 shots or eight shots in the second half, so it’s not like weren’t getting in the final third," said Kuhar. "We just have to be more clinical, and put the ball in the back of the net.
"Overall, I mean, very frustrating game on our end, but it is what it is, right? We just have to fix the stuff."
Sophomore midfielder Sophie Rater nearly had a shot on goal just over two minutes into the contest, but her shot was blocked wide.
"The start was good, right? I think we came out, we had good energy, we were moving the ball well," Kuhar said. "We were creating some things. We kind of had a little bit of a dip there in the middle of that first half."
That dip came 12 minutes later at 15:34, when St. Cloud broke through. Midfielder Laney Haviland pounced on a rebound off a blocked shot and put a ball past Huskies keeper Bri Barrows.
From there, Barrows was under siege, but she made multiple quality saves to keep Michigan Tech within one heading into halftime, making six total stops in the half.
"Bri (was) lights out again," said Kuhar. "(She made) nine saves. That’s the Bri we know, right? She made that big one in the first half, the full extension dive, far post. A lot of goalkeepers don’t even see that ball coming at them, because she was shielded pretty well."
In the second half, Barrows made another three saves, but surrendered two goals.
"She made some big saves for us, and then we hung her out to dry on the last two goals, even the first one," Kuhar said. "She had no chance as the girl just rips a ball in there.
"She played well. She made saves when we needed her to make them. But, we also have to help her out a bit. So, we'll clean that up. We'll figure it out."
Trapino scored her first goal of the game at 48:04. She was sprung by a long pass and snuck past a Huskies defender to take on Barrows 1-on-1, and she beat the keeper with a kick into the right corner of the net.
Trapino continued to put pressure on the Michigan Tech defense, and she was eventually rewarded a second time at 89:03. She again got a lead pass, managed to work her way around a Michigan Tech defender, and then cut from the right corner back out front to take on Barrows in a 1-on-1 situation.
Michigan Tech did settle again after Trapino's first goal, and they got to work attacking St. Cloud keeper Avery Weaver. Sophomore forward Abby Sayers had a chance with just under 33 minutes left, from the middle of the box. Later, sophomore midfielder Karli Koskinen also had a look from a little closer, but again, Weaver was there to make the stop.
Up next
With the loss, Michigan Tech fell to 0-2 on the season. They will travel to Cedarville, Ohio, this Thursday to face Northwood. Then Saturday, they will take on Cedarville.