University of North Texas Athletics
Green Gang: No Need To Worry About Offense Yet
9/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Return to Play
By Kenny Bybee, August 31, 2009, 8:30 p.m.
DENTON, Texas (8/31/09) - When I squeezed the air horn as the final second ticked off the clock yesterday at the North Texas Soccer Field you could almost hear the collective sigh of relief. Here was a New Mexico State team in their first year of competition and they had taken the Mean Green to the brink of a huge upset. We had seen this before last year, a North Texas team that won a lot of close games but weren't able to push across that late insurance goal.
Well ladies and gentleman I'm here to tell you everything is going to be A-OK.
However you want to look at it, 2-0 is a heck of a lot better than 0-2 and when you take a step back and view the bigger picture the events of this weekend may not have been the worst of things to happen for a young soccer team.
Kendall Juett, Kelli Lunsford, Lauren Shockey. Those are the three lone seniors on this year's team. They've been through the battles with Denver and know what it takes to win and they are hungry this year. One of the best moments from this weekend was when I heard Shockey bark to two of the freshmen during the New Mexico St. game that the angle they took on defense was "unacceptable."
Add in the fiery junior goalkeeper Mandy Hall and the "mature for her age" sophomore Kelsey Perlman and this team has the veteran leadership that is needed to go far. But like a lot of young teams, it's going to take a little time to gel, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
I talked to head coach John Hedlund after the game and what he said hit home. "You can't teach winning," Hedlund said. "You have to learn how to win the ugly games and gut it out when things aren't going your way."
This team will learn things as they go and how to attack a defense when they just pack it in like SHSU and NMSU did. They will be better prepared for a tough end of the season schedule. That's why Hedlund scheduled the likes of SMU, Texas Tech, Baylor and Ohio St. These upcoming games will give us a better idea of where this team stands.
Although the offense did struggle to score this weekend there was still a lot to come away excited about. As we expected the defense was spectacular and that was even without the services of Shannon Gorrie and Hannah Crawford against SHSU (both battling injury). Hall was flawless at goal and was named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week.
And offensively it wasn't like North Texas didn't get in their shots, they did, 39 to be exact. Some of the newcomers flashed some playmaking skills too, including midfielder Ellen Scarfone and forwards Carly McDowell and Michelle Young.
This weekend should be a good gauge for the Mean Green as they travel to SMU and then host Texas Tech. I want to remind all North Texas fans and soccer fans in general that Hedlund is only two wins away from reaching 200. There is a very good chance you could witness history Sunday at the North Texas Soccer Field.
Make sure you come out and witness this young and upcoming team. There might be some growing pains, but I get the feeling the payoff at the end is going to be pretty sweet.
