By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
 
HATTIESBURG – It was a disappointing start to the 2023 soccer season for the William Carey University men, who have high hopes for the coming year.
 
West Alabama took control midway through the second half, breaking open a tight defensive match with a pair of goals in the final 25 minutes for a 2-0 victory over the Crusaders Saturday in the season opener at Danny Owens Field.
 
WCU opens 0-1 in what it hopes will another successful season. UWA (6-5-5 in 2022) looked solid in its final preseason tune-up before opening its regular season August 31.
 
The Crusaders were 13-3-3 last year, making it to the NAIA National Tournament for the seventh consecutive season, but this was not the way head coach Barry Farrell wanted this night to go.
 
"It was really disappointing," said Farrell, who enters his eighth season at the Crusader helm. "We have a lot of new players in and obviously we're going to need a little more time to gel."
 
A problem Farrell has seen in the early going is an inability to finish in front of the net. The Crusaders had 11 shots, but only four on goal, and none of those were especially good chances. And WCU had nine corner kicks and did nothing with them.
 
"We're struggling in front of the goal," said Farrell. "That's two games, against Memphis (in an exhibition game) and now today that we haven't been able to score. We've had opportunities, but we haven't put them away."
 
The defenses dominated at the beginning, as neither could muster anything like a shot for the first 13 minutes of play before junior midfielder Aleksander Mihov fired a shot that was well right of the goal.
 
Carey opened with a 4-3-3 alignment, with its forwards roaming the field from sideline to sideline. However, the Tigers were stout in the back and the Crusaders found openings scarce.
 
"Obviously, it wasn't a great result," said junior midfielder Coaimhin McConnell. "First game of the season at home, we wanted a better outcome. But it's not the end of the world. We just have to get back to training, watching video and we did wrong and how we can improve."
 
McConnell, who hails from Antrim, Northern Ireland, frequently teamed senior Reon Dawes, an Englishman from Bristol to funnel much of the Crusader offense through the middle of the attacking end and taking on a bigger role in creating chances.
 
McConnell finished with 14 points last season, with three goals and a team-high eight assists, and Dawes had 13 points on four goals and five assists. They are trying to step up after WCU lost its leading scorer from last season, Brendan Bermingham, who scored 22 goals.
 
"I don't think we played very well today," said Dawes. "We had opportunities to take that we didn't finish, so we just have to bounce back.
 
"I think we were trying to get a goal and we were moving forward a ton, but the openings weren't there."
 
A scoreless first half ended with Carey getting three shots and West Alabama just two.
 
Carey had the Tigers on their heel early in the second half with a flurry of chances, but couldn't get anything on goal.
 
Junior Djordje Djukovic had two good opportunities early in the second half, but was unable to cash in either one.
 
In the 51st minutes, Djukovic took a header on a pass from McConnell that was just wide right in the 51st minute, then got a shot on target after a breakaway by senior transfer Diego Navia that was saved by Garret Wise, the second of two goalkeepers employed by the Tigers.
 
West Alabama began to assert itself 15 minutes into the second half, with back-to-back point-blank shots that Crusaders keeper Andreas Kokoska made two diving saves to knock away..
 
Tiger freshman David Nunez rocketed a 25-yard free kick that Kokoska knocked away with a dive to his left, then kicked away a shot on the rebound from junior Killian Griffin.
 
"Our goal is a national championship, which we can do if everything falls into place," said Kokoska. "We just have to go back and work hard in practice."
 
Carey still had opportunities in the next few minutes of play. Djukovic had a shot blocked in front, then senior midfielder Jacobo Arango banged a shot off the crossbar and finally junior Giovanni Soares headed one that was right on target.
 
A minute later, disaster struck, as Nunez caught the Carey defense napping, ramming a pass from senior Richard Lopez at 65:34.
 
"I don't know what happened there," said Kokoska. "I think I got screened and I didn't see the ball until it was right on me."
 
The Crusaders had several other good chances over the next eight minutes, getting four corners and a good shot on goal from Mihov in the 72nd minute.
 
But the Crusaders seemed to run out of gas over the final 15 minutes, especially after UWA scored again at 79:14 on a shot by Tiger sophomore Baronyi Kengeye on a pass from the left side by Nunez.
 
"We got muscled a bit, especially late," said Farrell. "But that's part of the game, when you go up 2-nil in any game, that's part of it. Maybe our guys needed to learn that lesson. But we'll come back and we'll be stronger for it."
 
Farrell said the Crusaders are awaiting some reinforcements from a pair of English forwards, junior Jack Greenwood and senior Billy Boag, who are sideline with minor injuries.
 
"We've still got two of our strikers who are out with injury," said Farrell. "We definitely need those guys back. And we've got two goalkeepers who aren't even here yet. They arrive tomorrow. We've still got two or three others still to come in. So we're still not full strength."
 
And the schedule doesn't get any easier, with a trip to Tennessee Wesleyan on Tuesday then a visit from LSU-Alexandria next Saturday.