Almost a mirror of last year's schedule for Mount Mary University soccer, Oct. 8th the Blue Angels will play Lakeland College at 4:00 pm. The only difference is the match will be played in Lakeland, Wis., the Blue Angels should be used to that however, since they have been on the road for almost the entire September.
The previous installment of the Muskies versus Blue Angels, ended with 10-0 score for Lakeland, primarily coming from a second period that got out of hand. The Blue Angels were held shotless for the entire game, while LC hammered away with 36. Misread plays by the former goalie, and poorly cleared out balls from the defense were to blame for the quick eight point turnaround.
MMU hopes to have made those adjustments in the offseason and in practice. Becky Onan (Fr./Grafton, Wis.) has been a great addition in goal this year. Before Onan suffered a midgame injury against Andrews College, she led NCAA Division III in saves.
Marissa Rechlicz (Fr./West Allis, Wis.) has stepped in while Onan recoups. Rechlicz has 54 saves this year, and when in midfield, can really turn the tides to open up Blue Angels Emily Ristow (Jr./Sheboygan, Wis.) and Ashley Lehnen (Fr./Sussex, Wis.) on the offensive side of the pitch.
Ristow leads the team with nine goals, but MMU's offense has not been able to get going recently scoring only three goals in four games. Some of the slow offense is due to players being out of their natural positions in order to compensate for the missing goalie. But the Blue Angels are rightly optimistic, as they have had three games to start and settle into their new positions.
After the match Wednesday, the Blue Angels finally return to Mount Mary Field to host Finlandia University for the second time this year. The match on Sunday Oct. 12th begins at 2:00 pm.
