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Zach Fries | Staff Reporter
After a tough 1-0 overtime loss to Northern Illinois University Friday, University of Cincinnati head coach Hylton Dayes was optimistic that his team had ample chances to score, but they failed to execute.
On Monday against Eastern Illinois University, it was more of the same.
In the first half, the Bearcats offensive attack was almost nonexistent mustering up just one shot.
In addition, senior midfielder Toby Andrews and redshirt-junior midfielder Christian Sosnowski each scored goals in the first half for Eastern Illinois, putting the Bearcats in a big hole.
Sosnowski’s goal in the 40th minute came from a penalty kick after UC junior midfielder Donovan Segree tripped up Panthers redshirt-freshman forward Luke Kurili in the box.
After a lackluster first half offensively, the Bearcats were much more aggressive in the second half but missed a slew of scoring opportunities.
It started in the 57th minute when freshman midfielder Paul Bangura drew a foul in the box. That set up a penalty kick for junior midfielder Ryan Melink and a chance to cut the deficit in half, but EIU redshirt-sophomore goalkeeper Jonathan Burke made a crucial save.
The Bearcats also missed a golden opportunity in the 77th minute redshirt-junior when Mohamed Elmardi had a header from a Segree corner kick that narrowly missed.
EIU (1-0) outshot the Bearcats 11-10. The Panthers only had two shots on goal, both resulting in goals. The Bearcats (0-2) had four shots on goal.
“You have to show up in college soccer,” head coach Hylton Dayes said. “We just have to regroup and look at not just x’s and o’s, but in terms of what we have to do to win games.”
While the Bearcats have 18 underclassmen and 13 newcomers,
Dayes isn’t making excuses for this team.
“We have veteran players out there, so we need a collective synergy to make sure guys are doing the things they need to do,” Dayes said.
Dayes also said that it doesn’t who they have on the schedule, the expectation is to win.
The Bearcats’ next game is Friday, August 31st at Cleveland State (0-2) at 7 p.m..