Soccer team weekends in corn country
8/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
The Montana soccer team heads to the Midwest this weekend to take on non-conference opponents Iowa on Friday in Iowa City and Iowa State on Sunday in Ames.?? Matches are to start at 7 p.m. and 1 p.m. respectively, Central Time.
At Iowa: Friday???s match-up with Iowa may serve to be the Grizzlies??? greatest test in these first few weeks of non-conference play.?? Iowa, like Montana, is coming off a 3-2 loss in its season opener.?? Last week at the University of Iowa Soccer Complex, the Hawkeyes led No. 24-ranked Missouri 2-1 for the majority of the second half before losing both the lead and the game to the Tigers in the final five minutes of play.??
A Big Sky preview? Iowa State is coming off a scoreless draw with Creighton last weekend.?? The team from Ames may be an excellent indicator of how the Grizzlies are to fare in the Big Sky Conference later this season.?? Iowa State, like Montana, lost a number of upper-classmen starters from 2008 and is seeing many shots on goal coming from its freshman recruits. ??The Cyclones finished out last season with a record of 5-12-2, playing in the tough Big 12 conference.??
During practice Tuesday at South campus stadium coach Neil Sedgwick was enthusiastic to get more game experience for his underclassmen players. ??Sedgwick explained: ???With such a young group, we have a lot of areas to work on with both attack and defense that we will focus on this week.?? We are seeing growth by the minute within training sessions and in games. We continued work this morning on a lot of things that we have seen in the video.?? They are picking up on all of the tactical changes quite quickly. It???s just a matter of continuing to provide them with situations that they haven???t seen before.???
On the road again: Montana???s trip this weekend will be games two and three of five on the road, in a non-conference schedule that sees the Grizzlies at home for only two out of 11 matches.?? True freshman Ashley Tombelaine, who has had strong shots on goal in UM???s exhibition matches as well as in Sunday???s season opener, reflected upon her first game on the road with a collegiate program: ???We do spend a lot of time together which is definitely good for team chemistry.?? I think that it will also demonstrate our mental and physical shape to be able to play so many games back-to-back on the road.?? I think that it will be good for us.???
Sedgwick explains: ???I think that this early in the year, with no classes, it can be just fine for the girls.?? We will travel again this weekend and still, they haven???t been in class. So really it???s just the one weekend where we may have difficulty with academic conflicts and a lot going on, but right now it???s just soccer for them.???
??Team looks for strong match-ups: After another valuable week working with his young team, Sedgwick likes Montana???s chances in Iowa: ???I certainly think that we can compete with those teams.?? We can expect it to be hard and physical and we can match that part of the game, then we can just see if what we have done in training can translate into the games.?? It will be a matter of who can take the right chances.???
