By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
 
HATTIESBURG – So, was the glass half-empty or was the glass half-full for the William Carey men's soccer team Saturday night?
 
Maybe it was both.
 
The Crusaders and Bethel (Tenn.) played 90 minutes without either team getting a goal in the net, finishing with a 0-0 draw in a non-conference match at Danny Owens Field.
 
Carey came away with a dead-even record of 1-1-1, while the Wildcats are 3-0-2.
 
"I was proud of our boys," said Carey head coach Barry Farrell. "In our last game (a 2-1 loss) against Louisiana Christian, I didn't feel like the commitment, the effort wasn't there in the first half over there.
 
"Today, it was there. Not a win, but I'm so proud of these guys. We had several players who hadn't played in eight months, just training. Wasn't a win, but there is a lot to take from this game."
 
There may not have been any scoring, but there was no lack of excitement as the two teams ran up and down the field searching for scoring opportunities that were few and far between.
 
"It's frustrating; every game, you always want to win," said senior midback Sahsa Vanersteene. "I feel like today, it was just not there. We just have to put our heads down and get back to work."
 
This was a tightly-played defensive struggle, as neither team got anything approaching a good look until late in the game, when Wildcats upped the pressure.
 
"They were a good physical team," said freshman forward Jamie Wynne, who had a pair of shots, one on goal. "It was tough to break them down. Still, we had some success at times, with some good crosses
 
"We're just lacking that finishing touch right now. I think that will come the more games we play."
 
Bethel finished with 20 shots, but only five on goal, while Carey had 13 shots, but got seven of those on net.
 
"We were working together as a team in the back," said Vandersteene. "We didn't concede, and that's important, but we wanted to win as well."
 
Sophomore Brandon Bermingham led the Crusaders on offense with four shots, three on goal, and sophomore Caoimhin McConnell also had two shots, with one on goal.
 
McConnell's shot on net provided the Crusaders with their best scoring chance of the night midway through the first half
 
McConnel's shot from 8 yards out was stopped by Wildcat goalkeeper Norberto Lima Viera, and Bermingham put the rebound into the net, but he was ruled to be offside, negating the goal.
 
Otherwise, Carey had very few open looks where its scorers could operate.
 
"We were getting in and around the (18-yard) box and getting the opportunities, we just didn't take our chance like we should," said Wynne. "In these tight games, that's what it comes down to.
 
"Them, too, they had lots of opportunities; we had lots of opportunities. It was pretty open at times. We just needed to get that finishing touch. We were putting together some good moves, but when it got to the end, we were falling a little short."
 
Bethel's best chance came near the halfway point of the second half, when freshman Gregory Cousins fired a blistering shot from the right side 20 yards out that Crusader keeper Andreas Kokaska had to dive to the ground to stop.
 
"You have to stay switched on for 90 minutes," said Kokaska, a newcome to Carey from the Czech Republic by way of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. "It's like that every game. My defense was amazing. Without them, it wouldn't have happened."
 
The final 15 minutes of the game saw the Wildcats putting big-time pressure on the Crusaders, getting three good shots and a pair of corner kicks. But Carey was up to the task, closing out the game without conceding a score.
 
"We've got to do a better job with our forwards getting those areas in front of the goal and getting those scrappy goals," said Farrell.
 
"We actually had one go in the net by Brandon, and we talked about that. Those are the kind of goals we've been missing."
 
After a pair of cancellations, this was just the third game of the season for WCU, and Farrell said that worked against his team.
 
"Most teams have played five, six games now and we've only played three," said Farrell. "So, it's still coming and we're a little bit behind, with new players coming in like we have."
 
Carey will get a chance to get a couple of games in before Southern States Athletic Conference action begin in two weeks.
 
The Crusaders will travel to play LSU-Alexandria on Wednesday, then they will head back to Louisiana on Saturday to take on LSU-Shreveport.