The College of DuPage women’s soccer team lost to the College of Lake County, on Sept. 4, after allowing 18 shots on goal and struggling to convert on offense. Despite finishing the match with 12 shots on goal, the Chaps struggled to play forward in the midfield and find their offensive rhythm, scoring only 1 goal all game. The Chaps left the game with a 1-2 record. 

“We competed well, but we didn’t protect the ball enough,” said head coach Matt Hanna. “[Lake County] scoring two goals in the final 30 minutes is evident; we just ran out of steam. It’s a tough loss today, but it’s about going one game at a time, and now we’ve had two losses in a row. It’s all about finding consistency, and we’ll get it in the next couple of weeks.” 

With seven minutes left in the first half, sophomore striker Veronica Helma scored for the Chaps after receiving a cross from freshman winger Asa Potts in the box.

“I’m very proud of us as a team, and we played our hearts out despite the loss,” said Helma. “The first word I thought of when I scored was ‘booyah.’ This game is a learning experience, and we know what we did wrong, but we’ll go into our next game [better].”

Potts played a major role as a winger in providing width and speed on the outside of the pitch to help the Chaps secure a goal off of her assist. On the defensive side, Potts demonstrated grit and hustle after running down the sidelines consistently throughout the match.

“For it to be early in the season, I thought that we played really well,” said Potts. “I think we have a very strong offense and defense, so our focus now is how to attack as a team and utilize all our players instead of being dominant only on offense or defense. I could’ve gotten on the end of a few more things, but the most important thing for me was to connect passes and find players to give them opportunities to go forward.”

The Lancers found their offensive rhythm in the 60th minute of the game after scoring two goals in a three-minute window. With 19:45 left in the second half, Lucille Sugarman nearly tied up the game after hitting the right post from a long shot outside of the box.

Chaps’ goalkeeper Corinne Myket finished the match with five saves. Myket displayed leadership and remained vocal throughout the entire match and saved the Chaps from suffering from a greater loss with several heroic saves.

“We played well for a long time, and we had a lot of great opportunities to score,” said Myket. “We just got sloppy at the end and tried to send too many balls over the top instead of connecting our passes. At the end of the day, I think [Lake County] was luckier than us. I just want to have a confident attitude in goal and not let anything pass me, and the backline did well in preventing a lot of opportunities [for Lake County]. 

The Chaparrals will take on Bryant & Stratton College at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 11 at Bjarne Ullsvik Stadium.