A stretch of road games continue for the Troy soccer team (2-4) with a match against Jacksonville State on Friday, Sept. 6, at 7 p.m.
Coming off losses to UAB and Auburn, the Trojans look to right the ship on Friday.
“I’m not really into moral victories but I am into progress, and I saw our team learn how to compete,” Troy head coach Chris Bentley said. “To me, the weekend while we weren’t on the right end of the scoreboard, there was improvement. There was development in play.”
This development is what Bentley and his coaching staff is hoping will lead to wins this weekend.
In the UAB match last Friday, Trojans’ Cecilia Thorngren and Maddie Tieken scored goals late in the 5-2 loss and in Sunday’s match against Auburn falling 3-0 to the Tigers.
“I don’t think the scores were really indicative of what was happening in the game,” Bentley said.
The coach praised his team for attacking Auburn on Sunday instead of just defending, like his teams had done in the past against teams like Auburn.
“I feel like we are moving in the right direction,” Bentley said.
Transitioning to the task at hand, being Jacksonville State, Bentley said he feels like the Gamecocks are similar to a Louisiana Tech.
“I think the most important part is we know how to raise our standard, now it’s imposing our standard on our opponents,” Bentley said. “Jacksonville State, that should be a game that we can impose our standard of play on them.”
After the match Friday, Troy returns home to play host to Murray State, a team the Trojans faced in 2011 on the road falling 1-0.
To Bentley, the games against Jacksonville State and Murray State will stack up closely to the type of play that the Trojans will face once conference play begins on Sept. 29, when Troy faces Texas State at home.
The Sunday match against Murray State also offers the Trojans the comfort of home to play soccer.
“I’ve always said this but I think our team enjoys being at home,” Bentley said. “We have got a great atmosphere with the fans. I do think there is a difference when we are able to play at home in terms of just management of our legs and having control of some things but we are not afraid to play on the road either.”
For more Troy soccer coverage, follow Trop Sports on Twitter and check out tropnews.com for home postgame recaps.
Comentários