WEST POINT, N.Y. (March 27, 2010) – Not resting on its accomplishments of qualifying for the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Tournament, Kutztown women's soccer coach Erik Burstein and his ladies started a challenging spring schedule with a solid 0-0 tie against Division I Army Saturday afternoon at Shea Stadium.
Burstein is using the spring to evaluate players and get his team ready for another run at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) championship. That's a few months from now. Burstein was pleased that the Golden Bears were able to stand toe-to-toe with the Black Knights, who finished with a 7-10-1 record last year.
“This was a tremendous experience for our team and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to come to West Point for this contest,” Burstein said.
Burstein is in the process of trying to lift the Golden Bear program to even greater heights. Most teams would be happy with posting a 15-6-2 record, qualifying for the NCAA Division II tournament and finishing the year nationally ranked. While it was a memorable year highlighted by setting school record for wins (15) and shutouts in a season (13), the Golden Bears lost to West Chester three times and Burstein wants to get over the WCU hump.
In finishing second in the PSAC East regular season and as PSAC tournament runner-up, Kutztown was nationally ranked in nine of the 11 NSCAA polls during the season. The Golden Bears peaked at ninth in the Sept. 15 poll. With many key players returning from last year, Kutztown had some decent scoring chances and flashed its trademark defense that allowed 17 goals.
In the first half, the game was pretty wide-open with Army getting a couple of early corner kicks. At times in the first half, KU was able to maintain some good possession. The Golden Bears created two excellent goal scoring chances by traveling the length of the field and serving the ball into the box. Goalkeeper Alyssa Hackelberg, who put in a great performance on the day, made two strong saves in the first half to keep the game scoreless.
“During the first half we had a few good spells of possession and even created two fantastic scoring chances,” Burstein said. “Defensively and through the midfield I thought we played very well. The issue in the first half was that we were not able to find our forwards, and when we did, we could not maintain possession of the ball.”
Things were a little different to start the second half as the Golden Bears found a quick groove. From the opening kickoff, KU created some early pressure on the Army goal ending with a 25 yard shot from defender Kelly Rozembersky that hit the upper part of the crossbar and went over. After the Rozembersky effort, and a strong opening five minutes from KU, Army dug in and took control by maintaining possession and getting a few half-chances with long range efforts at the KU goal.
During long stretches in the second half, KU had to rely on the defensive unit of Chelsea Deeter, Laura Hearn, Rozembersky, Kelly Bushe and Hackelberg to keep Army off the board. However, in the final 10 minutes KU began to get forward and created one final opportunity as Emily Froehlich sprinted down the right flank and served a great ball to an onrushing Morgan Muracco, whose effort was just off target.
Army applied some late pressure and almost capitalized on a well crafted opportunity, but Hackelberg made two athletic saves to help the Golden Bears enjoy a happy bus ride back home.
“In the second half Army upped their tempo and we did not see as much of the ball as we would have liked,” Burstein said. “I thought we got a touch sloppy at times and gave the ball away a bit too easily. With that being said, there were also times in the second half where we were able to find our forwards and put good pressure on Army's back line. Overall I am very proud of the way we played and how hard we competed. We have a few things to iron out, but I am very pleased with where we are and how we performed today.”
The Golden Bears will be back in action this weekend when they visit Lafayette Friday night for a 6:00 p.m. kickoff and travel to Rider Saturday afternoon for a noon start. The official 2010 Golden Bear soccer slate will be released later this spring.
“This was a competitive match that was begging for a goal that never came,” Burstein said. I thought we defended brilliantly throughout the 90 minutes and received strong goalkeeping from Hackelberg. On the offensive end, when we got forward, we always looked dangerous but could not apply the finishing touches to the opportunities we created.”
--KU ---
