By Garrett Pog
Troy City WFC before their 0-0 game against Lake St. Clair
On Monday night, Brazil tied Costa Rica 0-0 despite Brazil outshooting them 19-3, out-possessing them for 76% of the match, and drawing 8 more corners than Costa Rica. I thought, “How could such a thing be?”
Then I watched Troy City WFC (2-0-1) on Tuesday night, as they had a similar output against Lake St. Clair (2-2-1), yet came to the same result of a 0-0 draw.
Troy City played down to their opponent for the majority of the match, considering this was the team Troy City recorded their first win against, taking that match 8-1 just two weeks prior. Lake St. Clair’s strategy from the opening minute was to hunker down in the final third and prevent any clean shots, while trying to get a quick counterattack once they held the ball.
This type of defense really squeezed the TC offense, forcing them to hold the ball a little longer than they wanted, and not allowing the off-ballers to move around with any real space around them. Troy City would adapt by taking a lot of shots outside the box, often misplacing them, or giving the LSC keeper really easy saves in the first half.
When the 2nd team came in, Emerson Lukomski (Ferris State) became the standout, as she played through the midfield and ended up being the focal point of the offense, giving her team opportunities to capitalize. When those opportunities came, the players were too afraid to take the shot, leading to turnovers and shots off the mark. Lake St. Clair would look to make their own runs, but they never had clean shots, with the back line always being in position to make the block. Goalkeeper Eva Hill (Detroit Mercy) only had 2 saves throughout the first half.
The 2nd half started off on a heater, as a crossbar shot led to a header from Alanna Earl (Adrian) that nearly crossed the goal line while the keeper was down, only to be grabbed at the last moment. Though the action continued, this was the closest that Troy City got to taking the lead.
Troy City switched from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 to move more numbers up, and potentially get more angled runs towards the box. Still, impatience led to miscalculated shots from distance, rather than moving the ball forward to get a better look.
Whether it was the 1st or 2nd team, the problems stayed the same, with frustration growing as the match went on. Possessions traded back and forth before the final whistle blew, and neither team reached the result they wanted.
“It’s a struggle,” said Head Coach John Arndt. “Sometimes you have those games where you dominate possession, get many shots on goal, and we just didn’t put our chances away when we had the opportunity.”
Though they didn’t get to put another one in the win column, it is noteworthy that Eva Hill recorded the first clean sheet in Troy City WFC’s history. When asked what that means to her, she said “it means a lot, I think it’s really cool that I get to connect with my old friends and teammates, and something like this gets to rekindle that old chemistry, and it’s been fun.”
Troy City will have to rekindle their current chemistry rather quickly, as they play the Nationals SC this Friday evening at Oakland University, Kick Off at 7pm. Tickets for that match are $5. The next time TC is at home will be July 2nd at 6pm, in which they will play from Troy High School for the first time in their club’s history, taking on the Michigan Stars in their final UWS contest.
You can follow Garrett Pog on X and Instagram @itsGarrettPog. You can contact him via email at garrettpog@gmail.com.
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