The William Woods University women's soccer team steps back into American Midwest Conference action Wednesday afternoon as they host Harris-Stowe State University at 5 p.m.
Last Time Out
The Owls lost a 1-0 heartbreaker against Ottawa University in double overtime on Saturday afternoon. The Braves struck in the 109th minute with the golden goal to give them the victory.
Lessons In A Loss
Coach
Randy Hall's team took a lesson out of the double overtime loss to Ottawa, and that lesson was to play to the whistle.
“One of the major lessons we learned from that game is that you have to play to the whistle,” said Hall. “We had multiple occasions during the game that we felt fouls should have been called and our players were worried about politicking with the official rather than doing their jobs, which is to play every moment from whistle to whistle. We didn't do a very good job of that on Saturday and we want to make sure that is never the case again.”
Off To A Fast Start
Freshman
Jordan McNamara has started her William Woods career off with a bang. Through her first nine collegiate games, McNamara has scored five goals and two assists. She netted the game-winning goal in the 90th minute on the road at the University of the Ozarks.
Conference Rankings
As a team, the Owls rank second in the AMC in goals/game (2.33) and assists/game (2.00). Individually, four Owls rank in the top five across five different categories. Sophomore
Ashley Deckard ranks third in assists/game with .056, freshman
Jordan McNamara ranks fourth in points/game (1.44) and goals/game (.056), while junior
Jamie Palermo comes in fifth in points/game with (1.38). Defensively, junior goalkeeper
Kelly Abernathy ranks fifth in saves/game with 6.44.
Assisting the Nation
The Owls are ranked in the top 50 in the NAIA in two different categories, 38th in assist (2.0) and 42nd in total assist (18).
From Clubs To Cleats
Junior forward
Jamie Palermo is in the midst of a busy week at William Woods. The two-sport star participated in the WWU Fall Invitational on Monday and Tuesday, taking sixth in her first golf tournament of the season. This afternoon will be a quick turnaround from the greens to the field, and coach Hall has no problem with that.
“We are very lucky the fact that Jamie is a special athlete. You worry (as a coach) about mental fatigue with such long days. She was spending four hours on the golf course and would come in during the evenings to our practices. But, she had the highest energy of anyone on the team the last two days and we are lucky that mental fatigue is not an issue. A big reason for that is because of Jamie's personality.”
A Look At Harris-Stowe
Harris-Stowe comes into the game with a 1-8 overall record and a 0-1 mark in the AMC. The Hornets are currently on a four-game losing streak where its have been outscored 14-3, including being shut out twice.
HSSU opened up AMC play last Tuesday falling 3-0 to Hannibal-LaGrange. They are riding a six-game AMC winless streak with their last conference victory coming on Oct. 13, 2011 against Benedictine University at Springfield.
The Harris-Stowe attack is led by junior Shayna Kremer with four goals on the year. Kremer collected her first career hat trick earlier on the season against Blackburn College. She ranks second in the AMC in shots/game (3.67) and shots on goal/game (2.35).
Previous Matchup
The Owls defeated Harris-Stowe last year 2-0 at HSSU on Oct. 15.
Coaches Corner
“Their head coach, John Ryan, always has his team well prepared no matter who they have or who they play. They have a dangerous player up top, Shayna Kremer, who was the AMC Newcomer of the Year last season. We need to be ready and not make costly mistakes. Right now, Harris-Stowe is being outscored three/one and outshot two/one and we want to maintain that trend.”
