Nicholls soccer team gearing up for final two road games of the season
In a sport like soccer with low-scoring results, the difference between being ahead or tied going into the second half can greatly alter halftime strategy.
During Nicholls’ game last Sunday, the Lady Colonels were only four seconds away from achieving a 0-0 tie at the break against visiting Houston Christian.
“A 0-0 game at halftime, you have a different mindset,” Nicholls coach Robert Podeyn said. “There’s a pretty big letdown when you let in a goal four seconds before halftime, especially when it was your fault. It was our fault. When you have an opponent pressing the last minute, you really want to slow it down. You want to kill the game. We just didn’t do that.”
“We had opportunities where we could have done that,” Podeyn continued. “We just lost focus. That’s part of the learning process. Young teams have to kind of learn how to see out a game. That’s just part of the process. It doesn’t make it any easier, it’s just that more frustrating, but at the end of the day, that’s just part of growing.”
Along with strategy, a 0-0 halftime tie could have served as a morale boost after Nicholls was dominated the first time the teams met in San Antonio.
“At that point, you played an opponent that beat you 5-nil last time and was up 3-0 at half,” said Podeyn. “You’ve got them 0-0. Now we can settle down and start focusing on what we need to do as far as making sure we are keeping our pressure game working as far as pressing the ball, but then also working on framing the box and getting opportunities.
“When you are down a goal, now you have to talk about taking risks. It’s a different approach. You are conceding opportunities behind you more to get forward. If it’s 0-0, you are still looking to get forward, but you are also looking to protect. It’s a different approach in how you do things.”
The game with HCU marked only the fourth time Nicholls has been ahead or tied at halftime through the first 16 games of the season. The only time Lady Colonels were ahead at the break was in the sixth game of the season. Nicholls led 3-1 at halftime on its way to a 4-1 victory, representing the only win of the season for the Lady Colonels.
At 1-15 overall, including 0-7 in the Southland Conference, if Nicholls is to pick up a win this weekend, the Lady Colonels will have to do it on the road.
First up for Nicholls is an encounter with Texas A&M-Commerce at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Nicholls lost to the Lions 2-1 in one of the few games it managed a scoreless tie at halftime.
Texas A&M-Commerce, 5-1-1 in the Southland and 7-6-2 overall, has scored 26 goals on the season. The goals have come from mostly two players – Hannah Bell with eight goals and Kaydence Ramirez with seven.
“Really for us, it’s less about who to look out for,” Podeyn said. “I always tell teams, especially right now in the stage of our development, we’re more focused on how we play, playing our system, focusing on that. We will be less concerned about what the opponent has at this point.
“We’re looking to build on our game. Our game, we have been improving. We’ve been getting better. You can see the performance on the field. It’s definitely improving and getting better. It’s just a matter of can we continue to translate that and improve.”
Following the Commerce game, Nicholls will take on Southeastern Louisiana in the second-to-last game of the season.
SLU is 3-4-1 in the Southland and 5-9-1 overall. In the last three matches, the Lady Lions have two wins and a tie. Southeastern has scored only 11 goals on the season. Mya Guillory and Hanna Moffatt lead the team with three goals each.
Although the Lady Colonels have managed only one win this season, they do have something tangible to play for when they take on SLU, according to Podeyn.
“It’s one of those things, now you are talking about a rivalry. Us and Southeastern, that’s our rival. It’s for a trophy called the Crystal Cup. It has a bit more meaning. For us, that’s our playoff game. That’s what I told the girls. Every game we have remaining is a playoff game.”
