MOON TOWNSHIP — Robert Morris women’s soccer continued their impeccable form against Indiana State with a 2-1 win over the Sycamores Thursday afternoon.
Hyped up to play in front of the home fans the Colonials actually started the game flat when they gave the Sycamores a chance inside the first five minutes. Head coach Chris Shaw was able to talk about the team’s slow start this afternoon or if the open was playing to their advantage.
“I think it was a little bit of both,” Coach Shaw said. “They were chomping at the bit to find a win they have four ties on the year. They come out fired up. We were getting a little full of ourselves being four and 0 and thinking they don’t have any wins so I think it was a little bit of both with them being motivated and us a little bit complacent.”
Every team has the ambitions of being able to play out of the back and looking for possession right away and for the most part. RMU was able to do that with their crisp passing, but at a point in the match, it got sloppy with giving the ball away instead of just clearing the ball.
“We want to build out of the back, and we know teams are going to press us and that’s fine. We just have to be better at building. We had opportunities to play. We are just taking too long on the ball, too many touches, or making bad decisions so that has to be a little bit better. But that’s our identity and it’s who we are. We just have to be better at it at times” Coach Shaw said.
Playing a perfect match is almost nearly impossible at times going into halftime the Colonials were up 1-0 and dominated most of the play. Keeping a level of intensity is hard to do over a 90-minute game and this happened for Robert Morris in the first 20-30 minutes of the second half. Indiana State had some good possession, which led to them putting the ball in the back of the net in the 61st minute.
Going down in a match is sometimes bound to happen and it’s those who fight back and not give up showing the grit to see what you are made of. The Colonials did just that fighting back and finding the winner.
“I think this is by far the deepest team we’ve ever had,” Coach Shaw said. “When we bring players off the bench it doesn’t drop the level. The level raises because those are fresh legs. But those are also quality players. We have never had that in the past. We have been a second-half team all year really and I think that is because of the fact that we can sub The level doesn’t drop.”
Coming off the bench in this game was leading scorer, Lidia Nduka, who made an instant impact. She headed in the game-winning goal in the 71st minute to continue her hot start to the season and extending her goal tally to six early on. Coach Shaw could talk about what she has meant to the program early on in her RMU career.
“The kid just scores goals.” Coach Shaw said. “I think if I played her for five minutes, she’d score a goal. It doesn’t matter. She’s just got a nose for goal and she’s athletic and strong. She’s a fifth year so she has been playing college soccer for four years so she knows the level. She’s fantastic. That goal she scored today was class. On the field she’s been phenomenal but off the field, she’s just a fantastic kid.”
Robert Morris will look to keep this hot start of the season going on Sunday, Sept. 2 when they play St. Bonaventure at 1 p.m.
