BROOKINGS – The South Dakota State soccer team opened conference play on Saturday night with the South Dakota Showdown Series at Fishback Soccer Park and the rivalry game was played to a 0-0 draw.
SDSU (6-0-4) outshot South Dakota 17-5 and had six shots on goal compared to USD’s two. SDSU head coach Brock Thompson said he thought his team played well, but they just weren’t able to create enough prime chances to score.
“I thought overall we played a pretty good game of soccer. I thought we kind of settled for some half chances, when maybe we could have created a little bit more dangerous chances and that’s part of the reason we couldn’t score a goal. Overall, as far as the game we played, I thought it was good, but we have to be a little bit better in the final third,” Thompson said.
The game saw six yellow cards handed out, with four going to the Coyotes and two to the Jacks. Thompson said he thought this game would be tight because of it being the start of conference play and rivalry.
“We talk all along that in conference games there’s so much familiarity with teams and the margin for error gets smaller and that’s why you see results like this. I thought how we played was great. I thought we kept possession of the ball a lot and we played a lot in their end, but we have to be able to take that and create quality chances and score some goals,” Thompson said.
SDSU controlled possession for 66% of the match. The Jacks had 10 corner kicks and the Coyotes (1-5-4) had three. Thompson said SDSU did a good job of playing defense once the Jacks lost the ball.
“I thought we were really good in the moment that we lost the ball. We put pressure on them and I thought we recovered the ball quickly and really well, and I think that’s why the game felt a bit one-sided. But to South Dakota’s credit, they were organized and they made it hard on us to create quality chances,” Thompson said.
Maya Hansen led SDSU with six shots and two of them were on goal. Avery Murdzek, Karlee Manding and Kaycee Manding all had two shots and one on goal. Cece Limongi had three shots and one on goal. Kayla Anderson had two shots.
Hailee Fischer and Jocelyn Tanner each played a half as goalie for SDSU. Fischer had two saves in the second half. Caroline Lewis had six saves for USD.
The ‘Yotes were led by Joana Zanin who had two shots, one on goal. Ashby Johnston had one shot that was on goal. Taylor Ravelo had two shots.
SDSU has now not suffered a loss at Fishback Soccer Park in 38th-straight matches. Saturday’s match had 444 fans in attendance, which was the highest attended home match in over a decade. Thompson said his team really enjoys playing in Brookings.
“Honestly, we have good players and our players work really hard at trying to be consistent, home or away. Fishback is a great place, it’s a great surface. Our team is much better on grass and that helps us a bit. And obviously we have a great crowd,” Thompson said.
SDSU will play its sixth and seventh straight home match this week. The Jacks host Denver on Friday at 6 p.m. and play Omaha on Sunday at 1 p.m.
“[I just want to see the team] get better. That’s our mission every day, to get a little bit better and that will be our mission moving forward into the next weekend of conference play,” Thompson said.
