UNR Wolf Pack

Posted in: UNR Wolf Pack
Nevada Scores Two More Losses in LV
By John Chavez
Sep 24, 2007 - 9:59:32 PM

 The Wolf Pack women's soccer team (1-4-1) fell to the Iowa Cyclones (4-1-1) on Friday's game at the Rebel Classic hosted by UNLV in Las Vegas, NV.

As it has become the norm now. The pack started the game by being down on the scoreboard at the 20th minute with a goal scored by Casey Bothwell to give Iowa the lead.

The second half did not start much better and by the 65th minute the pack was down 2-0 with a goal by Blaine Dugan.

It was the Pack's forward Karen Zmirak, once again, who gave the pack their first goal.  Taken on a free kick to beat goal keeper Ann Gleason,  Zimriak scored her third goal of the season.

The game vs. Iowa State finished with the score of 2-1 in favor of Iowa giveing the pack their 4th loss of the season.

On the second game of the trip to Las Vegas the Nevada Wolfpack(1-5-1) played Ranked Team Washington State (5-1-1) to whom they lost by the score of 1 -0 on a goal scored from the penalty mark at the 65th minute by Mallory Fox.

In a season that seems to be one that coach "interim" Antoinette Marjanovic may want to forget, Nevada has lost 5 of their 7 games with one win and one draw.

From an spectators perspective, the Wolf Pack ladies look cohesive and have dominated the field and the clock in pretty much every game. However, what appears to be missing is the killer instinct of a natural, smart, cold blooded forward.

On a lot of occasions, the pack attackers have been in front of the opposing keepers with clear opportunities for goal. Unfortunately, a lot of the shots have either been shot directly to the keeper's hands and body or to the top and side of the goal.

Without a forward that can terminate plays with smart touches into goal, the pack appears to be spinning their wheels with a lot of pressure on their opponents but lack of commitment at the end.

This late in the season one has to wonder if the decisions taken by the UNR athletic department to have a different coach right when the season was about to start were the correct ones.

As Karen Zmirak put it "we were shaken up" when asked about how the team felt with the sudden coach change. Perhaps some sort of commitment to make coach Marjanovic the permanent coach would help settle things up with the team.

There is no doubt that the team has a lot of talent to be a nationally ranked team. However, getting close to goal and having more shots on goal than the opposing teams does not win games. Scoring does.

Until they can find the commitment to outsmart goal keepers and place the ball in the back of the net, the Pack seems to be going into a loosing season. One which could be the demise of the "interim" coach, regardless of whether or not the girls are out-playing and out-shooting their opponents.

Nevada will travel to California on Friday September 28th to play Davis at 4 p.m. and will later play at home on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. when they host UNLV at Mackay Stadium.

John Chavez
www.CarsonSoccer.com