SOCCER HAWKS DROP TWO MORE…

It is hard to report that the QU Soccer Hawks lost two more games over this past weekend. On Friday 9/26 the Hawks were up-ended by St. Joseph’s at home 3-2. This was the Pumas first win over the Hawks since 1998. The Hawks out shot St. Joe 26 to 12 and had 15 shots on goal to their 7 but they captured the most important stat (the W) with their game-winner coming in the 87th minute.

On Sunday, the Hawks gifted Wisconsin-Parkside a 2-0 lead in the first 20 minutes and then gifted them a gain with a stunning goal 13 seconds into the second half. Though reeling from being 3 goals down the players did muster up some fight to earn a consolation goal in the 80th minute making the final score line 3-1 in favor of UWP.

This week the Hawks will strive to regroup and push on with the second half of their playing season. On Wednesday 10/1 they travel to Kirksville to play Truman State. Then on the weekend they travel to Evansville to play Southern Indiana on Sunday 10/5 and then stay over in Evansville to Play Bellarmine University on Monday 10/6 in the make up game for the one cancelled on 9/14 due to poor field conditions in Quincy at the time.

These are tough times for the Hawks…but it’s always great to be a Hawk and trust that the team will battle back to achieve some measure of satisfaction from this season before it’s over.

SOCCER HAWKS SUFFER “LOST WEEKEND”…

September 19-21 was a “LOST WEEKEND” for the Soccer Hawks. On Friday, 9/19 the Hawks lost 2-1 to Northern Kentucky University (NKU) who were ranked #1 in the nation at the NCAA DII level. Unfortunately, the Hawks started off rather timidly against the nation’s top ranked team and were playing “back on their heels” as NKU came out strong and pinned the Hawks in their own end early on. NKU pressure paid off with a goal in the 15th minute mark. After that “slap in the face” the Hawks regrouped and started playing more aggressively and began getting back into the game. The two teams battled on until in the 82nd minute QU’s Bane Isailovic hit a fierce free kick past NKU’s 4-man wall from 28 yards out to knot the score at 1-1. With overtime just minutes away NKU broke the deadlock at the 87th minute mark with an attack that kept the ball “alive” in the QU penalty area resulting in a Hawk defender being pressured into clearing the ball into his own net for a dreaded “own goal” that finished the Hawks off.

On Sunday, September 21 the Hawks got off to a good start against the University of Indianapolis with a Grant Ellison goal just 4:09 minutes into the match. The Hawks continued to dominate the match for about another 10 to 15 minutes before Indy started to gain momentum in their play. At the 29th minute the Indy Greyhounds struck for a breakaway goal…and the Hawks collapsed…allowing additional goals at the 32nd and 37th minutes of the first half, putting the Hawks into a very deep hole. Three Hawk players were injured during the first half and could not play in the second stanza. Never-the-less, the Hawks tried to muster a comeback during the second 45 minutes of play but try as they did they were not successful. With the Hawks pushing up trying to score the goals they need in order to force a tie, Indy hit them for goals in the 80th and 81 minutes to kill the game off. The Hawks left the field with heads hanging, knowing that this was an embarrassing loss.

The “LOST WEEKEND” OF 9/19-12 IS OVER. That has to be put aside and a new focus, and renewed energy, must be put into moving forward and preparing for the upcoming games on Friday, 9/26 against St. Joseph’s and Sunday, 9/28 against Wisconsin-Parkside, two more very important GLVC matches…and the first Hawk HOME matches since 8/31. Everything that can possibly be done to have the team READY for these crucial games will be covered during this weeks training sessions. If you get a chance, come on out to one or both of these upcoming matches and have your spirit and support help lift the Hawks to 2 victories.

GO HAWKS…

HAWKS MOVE TO 5 & 0 WITH 5-1 WIN…

On Tuesday, the Soccer Hawks upped their record to 5 & O with their 5-1 win over Culver-Stockton College. The match was played on the C-S C campus on a very soggy field that made a nice sharp-passing game difficult. Fighting against the soggy playing surface and a fired up Wildcat team the Hawks were only able to put up one score on the board during the first 45 minutes of play. That goal came at the 20 minute mark when Jack Wedemeier knocked in a rebound off a Grant Ellison shot partially blocked by the Wildcat keeper.

The Hawks second goal came 15 minutes into the second half when Grant Ellison followed up his own shot that again was only partially blocked on the initial try. Similarly, QU’s third goal resulted from Jack Wedemeier following up his blast from the 18 yards line that was blocked but he was able to run onto as it slithered away from the C-S C goalie. Andy Kling notched the Hawk’s fourth score with a real bullet from about 12 yards out after receiving a nice cross field pass from Ryan Hirtz. And Hirtz rounded out the Hawk scoring when he picked up a loose ball off a corner kick that was on the ground about 15 yards from net when he banged it home. The last three Hawk goals came in the final 15 minutes of the game.

The Wildcats put a point on the board with less than a minute remaining when they were awarded a Penalty Kick.

The Hawks again hit the road this weekend facing GLVC opponents Northern Kentucky University on Friday 9/19 and the University of Indianapolis on 9/12.

GO HAWKS!

HAWKS DEFEAT KENTUCKY WESLEYAN 1-0…BELLARMINE MATCH POSTPONED…

On Friday, 9/12 the Hawks defeated KWU 1-0. Corey Eatherton (soph.from Summit HS in Fenton MO) notched the game winner with just over 5 minutes remaining in the match. Jack Wedemeier (soph. from Cape Notre Dame) got the assists on Eatherton’s fine finish. The win moves the Hawks to 4-0 on the season and 1-0 in the GLVC. The game was played on a brutally hot and humid day with the weather taking its toll on all the players. Fortunately the Hawks fitness held up and allowed them to “gut out” the win.

The Bellarmine Game (Sunday 9/14) has been postponed due to unplayable field conditions at North Campus Field. The GLVC will reschedule the match at a later date.

GO HAWKS!

SOCCER HAWKS DEFEAT GRACELAND 2-1…

On Saturday, September 6, the QU Soccer Hawks defeated Graceland University 2-1 in a well-played, hard-fought soccer match on the Truman State University campus. It was a big win for the Hawks as they were playing against a very good team and had to come from behind to get the victory. For those unfamiliar with Graceland University, they are an excellent NAIA team. They are always in the NAIA National Tournament bracket and were the NAIA National Champions as recently as 2006. They are a skilled team with quite a few international players as mainstays in their line-up. Graceland entered the contest with the Hawks rated as the #8 NAIA team in the nation.

Statistically the game was a stalemate except for the one stat that counts the most (the Hawks having the winning goal). On the field it was a real battle with both teams having other good chances at scoring in addition to the 3 goals actually notched in the contest. The Hawks though had more of the better chances with shots banging off the crossbar twice and another saved off the line by a defender. Hawk keeper Kyle Dillman (from LaFollette HS in Madison WI) made several crucial saves with his courageous play, especially early on in the first half. Kyle, along with the help of the strong defenders in front of him kept the Hawks in the game until the offense could get untracked.

After Graceland scored in the 58th minute, the Hawks came back strong with their tying goal headed home in the 70th minute by Jack Wedemeier off a cross from his high school teammate (at Cape Notre Dame) Abe Dirnberger. The goal resulted from Hawk pressure on the Graceland backs with Grant Ellison (St. Dominic HS, O’Fallon MO) forcing one of their defenders into Dirnberger’s path so that Abe could strip him of the ball and get off his cross. The Hawks second goal came just 6 minutes later when Wedemeier picked up a loose ball near midfield an played it to junior forward Jayme Groark (CBC HS St. Louis MO) who hit a pass that split the Graceland defense and found Dirnberger knifing between two defenders to control the ball and slot it home.

All in all the Graceland game was a good effort by all the Hawks and showed they could come from behind and dig out victory in a very tight match. On Sunday, August 7, the Hawks were supposed to play the University of the Incarnate Word over on the Truman State University Campus but that match was cancelled by the Truman athletic staff as a heavy rain on Saturday night-Sunday morning left their field with standing water. Attempts by the Hawks to have Incarnate come to Quincy to play were unsuccessful.

The next outings for the Hawks will be Friday, September 12 in Owensboro (KY) at Noon vs Kentucky Wesleyan University in the opening round of GLVC action. The Hawks will then return to their home North Campus Field to play Bellarmine, another GLVC foe, on Sunday September 14th again at NOON.


GO HAWKS!