Ferris soccer was shut out in their weekend matches against the Findlay Oilers and Ashland Eagles.
The Bulldogs (1-1-2) only allowed two goals throughout the two matches on Friday, Sept. 13 and Sunday, Sept. 15, but couldn’t find the back of the net offensively.
The Bulldogs struggled to find shot opportunities on Friday throughout the match against the Oilers (0-1-1) with just 13 shots in 90 minutes of play.
Despite the tie, head coach Greg Henson liked his team’s defensive effort and isn’t worried about the scoring output going forward.
“We kept them at bay and didn’t give up too many dangerous chances,” Henson said. “We got a bit stagnant up top today, but we have a great trio up front and some great bench depth so the scoring will come like it did in our first few games. Sometimes we’re just going to play tough opponents.”
Freshman goalkeeper Morgan Fillion started the game for the Bulldogs and played all 90 minutes in the net turning away six shots on goal. Senior midfielder Brinley Bell took the lone two shots on goal for Ferris.
Fillion loved the defensive effort of the team in her goalkeeper start.
“We defended together as a unit and supported each other in every moment,” Fillion said. “We made key developments to stop Findlay from scoring. The composure we kept makes me very optimistic for the rest of the season. There’s much more to come from this team.”
Sunday’s match fared worse for the Bulldogs where they drew their first loss of the 2024 season to the Eagles (2-1-0).
Both teams were scoreless through the first half, but Ashland got onto the board midway through the second half and the Bulldogs couldn’t respond. Ferris only attempted one shot on goal in the match to Ashland’s five.
Henson remained positive, despite the loss and gave his team praises where he could.
“I’m proud of the effort today but there’s things that we need to improve upon if we want to be a team at the caliber we want to be at,” Henson said. “Yet we’re still growing. I think we’re a much better team than we were four games ago even with the result today. In segments, we played some of our best soccer.”
Senior defender Lindsay Cole shared her team’s thought process.
“We just need to control the controllables,” Cole said. “No matter what the conditions are, who the opponent is, whatever else is happening, we need to be the best team we can be. We’re going to go out there and play the game we know how to play.”
The Bulldogs will aim to get back in the win column on the road this weekend against Roosevelt on Friday, Sept. 20 at 2 p.m. and Wisconsin-Parkside on Sunday, Sept. 22 at 1 p.m.