The Hiram Terriers women’s soccer team has been searching for a breakthrough all season. That wait will have to continue after the Terriers’ lost their North Coast Athletic Conference opener against Oberlin 5-0 last Saturday afternoon at Malsimur Stadium’s Charles A. Herny Field.
“They are a really good group of student-athletes and work incredibly hard so going into the game we were hoping we could figure out a way to get a result and it just did not happen but we will go back to the drawing board and go back to some stuff and put together a game plan that gives us a chance to win,” said Coach Mike Shiels.
For Hiram (2-9-0, 0-1-1), it marked the fourth straight loss against its NCAC rival and the third straight shutout defeat against the Yeowomen. The Terriers have not won a game against Oberlin since the 2019 season, when they recorded a 4-0 victory.
“They are a good team,” noted the first-year coach. “We watched their film and they looked across the board dangerous but overall they have got a good team that can obviously score some goals.”
On Saturday, the NCAC rivals engaged in a scoreless stalemate for the first 25 minutes of play but the Yeowomen’s offense erupted in the final 20 minutes beginning with an unassisted goal by senior forward Zoe Garver at the 24th minute of regulation, pushing Oberlin ahead 1-0.
According to Shiels, surrendering the first goal to the Yeowomen did not spell the end for Hiram but it was its response that would dictate the rest of the match.
“That is part of the game so we just have to be a little more consistent,” he said. “I would prefer not to give up the first goal. We have had some positive reactions and have steadied the ship a couple of times but unfortunately this last game we just struggled to do that.”
Oberlin continued surging, scoring two more goals in the first half to build a commanding 3-0 advantage. Senior forward Heather Benway scored Oberlin’s second goal off an assist from senior forward Samantha Gilfond inside the 27th minute of play and senior midfielder Morgan Cianfichi followed up with a goal off an assist from Benway at the 29th minute of regulation.
In addition to the Yeowomen dominating time of possession, they were also relentless on offense, recording eight shots at the goal while Hiram’s offense could not muster a response, failing to record a shot at the net during the entire game.
Shiels acknowledged that the Terriers were not as skilled at possessing the ball as Oberlin, but believed they could control the spots on the field where the Yeowomen controlled possession.
“What we are hoping for is to get quality and we had two or three chances that were breakaways that we did not get anything from,” he said. “When you get those situations you are looking at high quality ones that you are hoping to get something from so we will look at that in the film again and we will see how do we turn those into better chances and how do we make sure we at least end up with a shot on target.”
Oberlin added two more goals in the second half to clinch the shutout victory, marking the fifth shutout loss for the Terriers in their last seven matches.
Shiels noted that Hiram does not have many creators on offense this year, so it has adopted a conservative style of play where it has relied on counters to ignite its offense.
“We are playing against some really strong teams that are pretty established and we have had to play a pretty more pragmatic style than we prefer to play but we feel it is the style that we feel right now gives us the best chance to get results,” he said.
As the Terriers are rebuilding themselves through a new style of play, it has led to a slow start to the season with little offense. Shiels said that his squad still believes that its best soccer is yet to come in the final half of the regular season.
“We just hope we can keep improving every day and looking at the areas we struggled and focus on some of the areas that we have done well and hopefully we are able to put together a full 90 minutes,” he said.
Hiram will hit the road and take on NCAC rival DePauw University at Reavis Stadium in Greencastle, IN on Saturday beginning at 2:30 p.m.
