The Wayne State College women’s soccer team will be looking to get their first win of the season this weekend.  

They will travel to Aberdeen, South Dakota to play the Northern State Wolves on Friday. Then, they will go up to Moorhead, Minnesota to battle the Minnesota State-Moorhead Dragons on Sunday. Both games are part of NSIC Conference play. The Wildcats fell to 4-1 on the season after a road trip this past weekend. They suffered two difficult losses against the Minnesota State-Mankato Mavericks 6-0 and the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears 3-1. 

The Wildcats’s season thus far has not exactly been according to plan. They have been outscored by their opponents 13 goals to three. Those three Wildcat goals have been scored by freshman forward Reagan Allen, junior defender Haley Hoffman and senior forward Abby Sutton.  

They have also been shutout three times this season. The offense has only been able to generate 8.6 shots per game while the defense is letting up 18 per game. Even more so, the Wildcats have only been able to muster up four shots on goal per game. 

“We have to start in the first 20 minutes of the game,” Head Coach Emily Hester said. “We have to set the tone and believe in ourselves. I think sometimes we come out on our heels instead of having the focus of creating opportunities. We just need to take more chances and be more creative.” 

A lot of the heavy work has had to be done in net for WSC, and there is a goaltender battle taking shape.  

Grand Canyon senior transfer Hayden Wallace started the lone home game for the Wildcats against the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats. In 17 shots faced, nine of which being shots on goal, Wallace saved eight of them, only letting one get behind her.  

Junior goalkeeper Sidney Truman has started four games, including the two this past weekend. Overall, Truman has faced 39 shots on net and saved 27 of them, good for an .692 save percentage. While Wallace has had the better numbers in her limited time, Truman has been the starter more often than not. 

For Hester, it’s more than focusing on the individual matchups between teams.  

“It is about how can we control the things for us to be successful,” Hester said. “It’s not so much focusing on who we’re playing, but how can we be better every single day to get an outcome this weekend. Every game in this conference is going to be a battle, and there is a chance for any team to win.”  

The Wildcats’s first opponent of the weekend is the Northern State Wolves. They are 3-2 so far this season. They are outscoring opponents six goals to two over those five games. However, four of those goals came in their last game, a 4-0 win against Minnesota-Crookston on Sunday. The Wolves put up 13.6 shots per game while allowing only 7.6 shots per game.  

The Wildcats will be looking to get some points out of these upcoming matches and will be looking to build some momentum for the rest of this season.