The Nevada Sagebrush

Pack drops two WAC matches

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - 12:54 AM

Nevada midfielder Raylene Larot charges for possession during the game against Fresno State on Sunday. The Wolf Pack lost to San Jose State and Fresno State, despite holding a 22-12 shot advantage in the two matches. Nevada is 5-11 for the season. Photo by Marcus Sacchetti/The Nevada Sagebrush

The Wolf Pack soccer team fell to the San Jose State Spartans and the Fresno State Bulldogs by a score of 3-1 in both games. The losses drop Nevada to 2-3 in Western Athletic Conference play and 5-11 overall.

Head coach Jaime Frias devised a system of breaking down the game into four time ranges throughout any given match: the first five minutes in each half, as well as the last five minutes in each half.

“For us to get scored upon in the big five moments or close to them is just unacceptable,” he said after Friday’s game. “Now we’re digging ourselves out so now we’re chasing the game instead of keeping possession. When you chase the game, more things open up against you and you’re exploited.”

Nevada almost tripled San Jose’s shot total Friday night as they recorded 13 shots compared to San Jose’s 5. The penalties called against the Wolf Pack were what inevitably killed them — penalties even led to one of San Jose’s goals.

“It’s a lot of inconsistency within the officiating,” Frias said. “We’re playing aggressively and we’re being over-aggressive; we’re trying to win those balls and we’re playing fairly so I don’t want to discourage them from playing aggressively but (unfortunate calls) are going to happen. It’s a contact sport.”

On Sunday, the Pack and the Bulldogs each had nine shots, but the Bulldogs were able to capitalize on their shots more effectively. Ellie Stott, who scored the only goal for Nevada, hit two crossbars on penalty kicks. A little bit of luck and the Pack may have been going to overtime for the first time this season. Frias was more pleased with the effort on Sunday than on Friday.

“Luck definitely plays a part of it,” he said. “(Today’s) score was not indicative of the way we were playing. That being said, we need to start getting some wins, especially in conference. We want a shot of making the tournament.”

Stott agreed with Frias.

“Obviously we need to tighten up our (defense),” she said. “We don’t want to be giving away such soft goals.”

A couple of early defensive lapses put the Pack in an 2-0 hole on Sunday. Nevada defenders Nikki McEachern and Devin Noe were beaten by Bulldog forwards Janna Sadowitz and Claudia Cardenas, who basically came through the defense untouched.

“If we work hard in practice this week on some of the things that we are having issues with, we’re going to be fine,” Stott said.

A team-wide sickness that hindered the ladies in practice last week seems to have subsided slightly this week.

“It went through the whole team,” she said. “But we’re kind of at the end stage of it.”

The Wolf Pack has only three regular season games left, their next being Friday in Hawaii. The WAC Tournament is in Boise, Idaho beginning Nov. 5. Winners of the WAC Tournament get an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“That is one of our goals,” Nevada forward Cristen Drummond said. “We want to go to the NCAA’s and we’re gonna work hard for it; we have the heart, we have the desire and we’re gonna work hard for it every inch. We’re gonna do it.”

Chris Gabriel and Chris Muller can be reached at sports@nevadasagebrush.com.