Little mistakes torture Nevada in loss
Marjanovic hopes that regular season served as a learning ground for WAC tournament
The Nevada women’s soccer team finished the regular season on a down note on Sunday as it fell to the Fresno State Bulldogs 3-1.
Fresno State midfielder Amanda Rayes scored first just under 30 minutes into the game as she came down the center and kicked a bouncing goal over freshman Pack keeper Marie Cove’s head.
For the rest of the first half, the Wolf Pack failed to capitalize on several scoring opportunities.
Both teams took five shots in the first half. Fresno State took two on goal and Nevada took three.
Interim head coach Antoinette Marjanovic said the loss was characterized by little mistakes made and failure to capitalize on scoring opportunities.
“We played fairly well at the beginning of the first half yesterday,” Marjanovic said. “I thought that was the best we’d come out all year, but unfortunately some key mistakes cost us the game.”
Nevada came out strong in the second half, taking six more shots, compared to the Bulldogs’ four.
But the shooting supremacy wasn’t enough for Nevada. A breakdown in backfield communications led to another Fresno State goal, this time by freshman defender Andrea Salvador in the 70th minute.
“Basically [our mistakes were] just more on the defensive end,” Marjanovic said. “On the first goal, someone not stepping to the ball to clear it before it bounced, and then the second goal was just a miscommunication.”
After the kickoff, Fresno State regained control of the ball and again brought it downfield. Salvador and Cove collided and Cove was shown the red card. The red card ejected Cove from the game and forced the Wolf Pack to play a man down for the rest of the match.
A penalty kick from Bulldogs senior midfielder Chelsea Davis gave the Bulldogs a second goal in just under a minute.
Despite being down a player, Nevada kept pushing hard on the Bulldogs and prevented them from taking another shot on goal for the rest of the game.
It took the Pack until the 87th minute to find the net. Junior forward Karen Zmirak headed in a corner kick from junior midfielder Jessica Thompson to break the shutout.
Part of the problem may be the inexperience of the team. Many of the Nevada squad’s key players are freshmen or sophomores, and of the top five Nevada shooters for the season, only midfielder Blain Dugan is a senior.
“We do have a fairly young team with younger players in key positions, and it’s a learning experience for them,” said Marjanovic.
All of this leaves Nevada with a world of potential difficulties heading into the WAC tournament.
Marjanovic is counting on the regular season to be a learning experience for the postseason.
“I’ve said it throughout the season, we’ve had little mistakes where teams have been able to capitalize on us so far,” said Marjanovic. “I hope we’ve learned our lessons now.”
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