After a 9-0-1 start that saw the Colonels break records almost every time they stepped on the field, Nicholls has dropped their previous two matches.
The Colonels hot start came to an end two weeks ago following a 4-2 loss to the University of the Incarnate Word. The losing streak was extended this past Friday when Nicholls fell 2-1 to Lamar University.
Despite the losses, Colonel soccer has been making history this season. Their nine wins are the most any team has earned in the program’s history, thanks in large part to the Southland Conference’s top scorer sophomore Spencer Valdespino, who has 11 goals so far this season. She is one goal shy of tying the school’s single-season record for scoring.
“It gives me a lot of confidence because I feel like I can take shots, and most of them are going in, so I’m pretty happy with that,” Valdespino said. “But, it also helps my team knowing that we can score and we can help each other because they’re putting me into good positions to score and I’m just helping them as much as I can.”
As a team, Nicholls tops the conference in shots, points, goals and goals per game. The Colonels also boast the third-best scoring offense in the National Collegiate Athletic Association with 3.17 goals per game.
“It does [give us confidence] and if we are able to keep a clean sheet, then there is a good chance that we will win the game knowing that we will go ahead and score some goals,” head coach Dylan Harrison said. “But hopefully we don’t have the mentality that we can give up one and still get it back. We just have to be a little smarter, a little safer at the back and just count on those goals going in by doing what we’ve done to create them.”
Falling behind in the last two games played a major role in the results. Incarnate Word scored the first goal of the second half against the Colonels, forcing them to come from behind to tie it twice before the Cardinals scored two late goals late in the half to win. Lamar jumped out to a 2-0 lead before Valdespino’s goal late in the match.
“We talked about it even in our halftime talk [during the Lamar game]. We can’t get away from what helped us be successful earlier in the year, and we can’t wait until we’re behind to finally go ahead and do those things,” Harrison said. “I mean, even if you look at [the Lamar game] it was a tale of two halves. We just gave them way too much in the first half and finally decided to play in the second half. You can tell by the result, it was too little too late.”
Coach Harrison expects the team to right the ship and get back to their winning ways.
“[We need to] get back in playing the way we can. That’s our main expectation. We have high expectations of ourselves and we just need to get back to playing the way we can and get it rolling again and start a new streak.”