Under normal circumstances, a 2-1 defeat would not appear like a good defensive performance. However, for the Western Illinois Leathernecks, this loss would mark one of their best defensive performances all season.
Heading into this game, the Leathernecks had not seen the defensive performance they were hoping for this season. In more than half their games up to that point, they had let up three or more goals to their opponents, a recipe that led to very little success. Their tough loss in their last home game of the season was no different, losing to conference opponent Denver 3-0, letting up 15 shots in the process. With only two games left to play, the defense would need to pick up their performance as they headed into the Hefner Complex to face off against another conference opponent in Purdue Fort Wayne.
While a 2-1 loss doesn’t sound like a great performance on defence, this match would actually see one of the greatest defensive performances from the Leathernecks this season. Throughout all 90 minutes, the Leathernecks would only allow seven total shots, with only three of them being on goal. This performance results in a season best for the Leathernecks from a defensive standpoint.
The chemistry between players like Ashley Kuhlmann, Madison Bulin, and Kayla McCormick, held the Mastodon’s offence from getting many shots off, keeping this game at a relative standstill. However, this harmony would be broken twice, once in the first half when Kayla Wisniewski beat out Madison Bulin to put the ball into the top corner of the Leathernecks goal, and the second time late in the second half, when Ashley Kuhlmann received a yellow card in the box, resulting in Kayla Wisniewski getting her second goal of the night on a penalty kick.
Unfortunately, the Mastodon’s defence returned the favor, because while the Leathernecks were still able to get 23 shots off, only nine of them would be on goal, and only one would find its way into the net. This result can be chalked up to Mastodon goal keeper Haley Lydon, who saved eight of the nine shots on goal, and prevented the Leathernecks offence from getting much going.
Regardless of the result of the game, though, the Leathernecks still had a season best on shots allowed and shots allowed on goal. They will look to carry this momentum into their final game of the season against Omaha.
Disclaimer: This article was written as an assignment for my sports writing class at Western Illinois University. The game that this article talks about is from a recorded game in 2018, and is not reflective of the current team.
The stats from this game were located from Leatherneck Athletics: https://goleathernecks.com/sports/womens-soccer/stats/2018/purdue-fort-wayne/boxscore/7433
The livestream for this game was found on Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodon’s YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKziwO67470
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