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Quinnipiac coach Dave Clarke. (Source: QuinnipiacBobcats.com) |
Since November I have been asked constantly what happened. The truth is...I don’t know. Even now I am still frustrated and at a loss to explain how the team that played so well at high-flying Providence, Yale and Central was the same one that failed to score and lost against lowly Mt. St. Mary’s and Wagner. Our top scorer, Sarah Lawlor, was out with a concussion in our final six games, but it would be too easy to blame her absence for our woes.
The game against the Mount was just never meant to be. In the first 10 minutes we hit the post, hit the crossbar, had two shots cleared off the line, had one blocked by a fantastic save by their keeper and had a goal disallowed for offside (from a pull back!). Needless to say they won, 1-0.
Against Wagner the shot count was 29-4 and the corner count was 9-0 in our favor. It was a ridiculous game and the chances we missed were more so. I have been involved in the game a very long time and I have never witnessed a game as one-sided, with so many chances made and missed and yet the dominating team walk off with a draw. It felt like a loss. A case of two points dropped rather than one gained. It was surreal. But again it was just not meant to be.
As each game went by without us scoring and without us winning, the pressure grew while the performances got worse -- as did the misses. We lost four games by 1-0 scores despite dominating all four. Only FDU scored more than once against us during the run in a game that meant nothing to us because we were already eliminated from the playoffs.
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Despite starting the season 9-1-2, Quinnipiac finished a disappointing 9-7-2 on year. (Source: QuinnipiacBobcats.com) |
I tried everything technically and tactically to change things, but at the end of the day nothing worked. I was never a big fan of the psychological aspect of the game, but if ever there was a time when my players needed professional help it was during this poor run. There has to be some reason to explain why a player can miss the ball when standing on the goal line or can hit it wide left when running right only two yards from the line with no keeper to beat.
We still ended the season having the best for and against record in the NEC and one of the best overall records. Yet for all our hard work and good early season performances we had nothing to show for our efforts. In reality we had two poor weeks in a three month season. Our timing could not have been worse, but what it comes down to is this: we did not win when it mattered most.
It was a very frustrating end to a campaign that promised so much. The final six games were mentally draining. My players and staff all worked very hard, but the harder we worked the worse things became. Hopefully we have learned from the experience and will come back a better team next fall.
Dave Clarke just finished his ninth season at the helm of the Quinnipiac Division I women’s soccer program. Check for Dave’s insights in the “Coach’s Corner” periodically at Soccer-New-England.com
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