Issue date: 9/17/09 Section: Sports

The women's soccer team received a big boost from its freshman class and split last week's road conference matches.

Truman (2-2-2) beat Northwest Missouri State 2-1 on Thursday but lost to the University of Nebraska-Omaha 4-1 on Saturday.

Northwest, undefeated before the match against Truman, proved to be a handful.

"The match went well," head coach Mike Cannon said. "It was probably one of our best matches of the year so far. Overall play was good and we were consistent. We kept possession of the ball, which we'd talked about a lot."

The 'Dogs got out to a fast start with a goal just five minutes into the match. Freshman midfielder Kelsey Twellman scored her first goal of the season on an assist from redshirt freshman Heather Niebling.

Senior forward Isabel Gaeta said Twellman's goal was an important one, and that the freshmen continue to impress.

"They have come in and made a huge impact," Gaeta said. "Twellman uses her speed to beat people and has become really aggressive going to the goal. She knows when to pass or take people on."

Truman didn't keep the lead for long. Northwest scored the equalizer less than 10 minutes later.

The score remained deadlocked until the 78th minute, when senior midfielder Katie Reuck netted her second goal of the season. Junior midfielder Beth Bystrom assisted the goal.

"We had some good chances throughout the game," Cannon said. "In the second half, we were really down in their end of the field. Their keeper is very good, but we had a nice sequence that ended with a score."

Truman controlled the ball for most of the match. The 'Dogs outshot Northwest 21-12. The Bulldogs controlled the second half and attempted eight more shots than the Bearcats during that time. Truman also had 11 shots on goal.

Sophomore goalie Jayne Grisham turned in a solid performance. She saved six shots, five of which came in the first half. Cannon said the defense played well, even though the Bulldogs controlled the ball for most of the match.

"Northwest has some kids up top that are pretty quick," Cannon said. "Jayne Grisham made some good saves. Our defense did a good job keeping their attack fairly quiet."

Against rival UNO, the Bulldogs could never really get going. The Mavs scored in the 13th and 14th minutes to jump out to an early 2-0 lead.

Freshman forward Olivia Hayes cut the lead in half with an unassisted goal in the 43rd minute. That was the only goal the Bulldogs netted. UNO added two more goals in the second half to put the game out of reach. Cannon said the Bulldogs played well, even though the result didn't show it.

"The score doesn't really do the game justice," Cannon said. "For losing 4-1, we actually played pretty well. We kept possession and had equal stats with them. The big thing on the day was when we made mistakes, they punished us. When they made mistakes we only punished them once."

Both teams attempted 15 shots and had eight shots on goal. Cannon said the Bulldogs suffered from miscommunication and some questionable decision-making. He said the team needed to clear the ball better.

"There were some physical and some mental errors that led to their four goals," Cannon said. "[UNO] is good when they put you under pressure."

Two of the three Bulldog goals last week came from freshman forwards. Freshman defender Stasia Montgomery also got her fourth straight start for Truman. Hayes attributes the early success of the freshmen to the upperclassmen leaders.

"The older girls have helped us so much because we really didn't know what to expect coming into the season," Hayes said. "They've had success in the past and show us how to push ourselves at all times."

Truman's next match is 1 p.m. today against Washburn University. That match opens a five-game home stand against MIAA conference teams.

Cannon said the team has a few small things to work on in preparation for the week.

"We are working on our mentality, being more intense and aggressive," Cannon said. "We're a little bit on the passive side throughout the field. We want to dictate play and not let the other team control how we play."

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