Soccer drops a pair of Sun Belt matchups
The Trojans dropped a pair of matches, falling to Marshall, 2-1, Thursday at the Troy Soccer Complex before falling on the road to Louisiana, 5-0, at the Home Bank Soccer Facility.
At kickoff on Thursday, Troy applied pressure quickly and put up multiple shots on goal. The biggest chance came from Layla Juliano, who had a chance to shoot at the top of the 18-yard box, where she would curl it and almost find a way past the keeper.
The momentum of constant pressure came to an end after a Trojan was issued a red card for a slide tackle on a player. Marshall started to pick up the pace, but the Trojans kept up, putting more shots on goal.
"Tough one for us tonight,” said head coach Jake Wyman. “I thought that we were the better team.
“I thought we were able to get at them in the first half and create a few good chances. We obviously didn't capitalize on those chances early, but I thought we limited them to shots from the first half. When you get the red card, it changes the landscape of the game.”
Troy’s next big chance would come from a cross-in from Brooke Slater. The ball would curl out towards the top of the six, multiple Trojans would get a foot to it, but the ball would ping-pong back and forth between Troy and Marshall’s players. The last bounce would send it towards the Herd's keeper and saving it off her leg was all it took for Marshall to clear it back out.
Possession kept being turned over to Marshall, but Troy would hold out for the rest of the first half and close out halftime 0-0.
In the second half, Troy kept the pressure up, but a slip in judgment was all it took for Marshall to find the back of the net halfway into the half. The Herd played off that pressure and scored again in the 70th minute to put them up by two.
Troy retaliated quickly when Carey found the back of the net after a ball from Slater landed at her feet for a tap in. Troy continued its pressure, but the final whistle blew, and the Trojans fell 2-1.
“I'm proud of the girls' efforts, but I'm disappointed with the result,"Wyman said.
Moving into Sunday, Troy struggled at kickoff, with Taylor Richards having to make her first save 15 minutes into the match. The Cajuns continued their aggression and opened up their score sheet at the 30th minute, as Miku Kurihara scored her Sun Belt-leading 10th goal of the season.
Ten minutes later, Troy conceded another goal after a ball would meet Olivia Harding in the middle of the goal. She headed the ball, and it end up being too quick for Richards to react.
Troy got one great chance as the second half opened, but the ball found its way through both the Cajuns and the Trojans to come straight across the goal line. Troy did not get another chance at a goal for the rest of the match.
However, the Cajuns did as three more goals were added in the 49th, 60th and 86th minutes. The final whistle blew, leaving the score 5-0.
"Credit to Louisiana,” Wyman said. “We got out-coached today.
“They were better in every phase."
Troy will be back in action on Saturday against Coastal Carolina at the Troy Soccer Complex. That game will be played at 5 p.m.
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