When a program finds its stride, the results are always going to look up and be more promising than what they were to begin a season.
On Tuesday evening and Thursday evening, the Shawnee State women's soccer program has a chance to add on to those strong results before heading into conference play as the Bears will play host to Lake Erie College in their final home game during the month of September on Tuesday evening and will follow up that affair by traveling to Cincinnati-Clermont for a road bout on Thursday evening. Both contests will start at 7 p.m.
For second-year head coach Natasha Ademakinwa, the opportunity to see the girls grow over their last six affairs -- which has featured four victories -- has been quite rewarding. "It's great for the girls to be on the scoresheet," Ademakinwa said. "They work hard every practice. It is great to see their hard work pay off!"
Shawnee State, who has won four of its last six contests, have outscored their opponents by a 12-6 margin in those six affairs as the Bears have not only developed a balanced offensive attack, but have tightened up their work on the defensive end by only allowing six goals over their last six contests. In four of those six contests, the Bears have held their opponent to one goal or less in the contest.
For Lake Erie, the Bears will have to continue to stay a step ahead defensively as Holland Erb and Haley Scherer have been strong for the Storm defensively in 2019. Overall, Erb and Scherer have combined to post five goals combined on just 13 shots as both players have a shot percentage of .385 -- a very strong percentage to have to this point in the 2019 season. Cincinnati-Clermont, who is 4-1 on the year, is no slouch either, as the reigning United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) Division II National Champions have already defeated Carlow (2-0) and have outscored their opponents by a 15-3 margin in 2019 en route to their current record.
However, as evidenced over the past two weeks, the Bears have picked their performance up. That was on display last week, where the Bears arguably put together their two best offensive performances of the season in wins over Point Park (Pa.) -- in Pittsburgh -- and Brescia (Ky.) -- in Owensboro -- by 2-1 and 6-0 tallies, respectively. In those contests alone,
Eilidh Mchattie scored three goals, while
Paige Alford's two goals against Brescia, and a goal each from
Jill Kelly,
Ellie Aston, and
Alli Blank helped aid a balanced scoring attack that has continued to grow with each passing game.
One thing that excites me about this team is the fact that everyone across the field can score goals -- not just my forwards," Ademakinwa said." It's been enjoyable for me to see the girls playing with confidence, and in team unison. We are also looking more organized and confident at the back."
With their play on all fronts becoming that of a more solidified unit by the day, the hope is that SSU can continue its momentum -- and come out with two big wins against Lake Erie and Cincinnati Christian before the break hits.
"I'm hoping that we continue to play the Shawnee way," Ademakinwa said. "I'm hoping that we can treat these last two games as preparation for our conference matches."
