By Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter
After a close first half of action the Jays would fall apart in the second half, as Rapids took a 6-0 win on Tuesday night.
“Our girls played well the first half,” said Merrill head coach Kyle Hahn, “They stayed organized, were providing good cover and balance for one another, and shifting as a unit when the ball would switch from side to side. I thought we were a bit unfortunate not to go into the half tied at zero, but sometimes that’s the way the game goes,”
After trailing only 1-0 going into the second half, Merrill would struggle in the first five minutes, which would cost them any chance of a win.
“Unfortunately, the first five minutes of the second half undid us,” adds coach Hahn, “Injuries have been plaguing us as of late and we made a tactical switch at halftime to compensate for another player coming off injured. As coach, I’ll take full blame for getting those tactics wrong and I made sure to clarify that with our girls after the final whistle.”
Coach Hahn also credited Rapids saying, “Wisconsin Rapids did an excellent job exposing the weakness in our formation and bagged four goals in three minutes and two seconds. It happened so quick that the damage was done by the time we made an adjustment. I’ll give our girls credit for figuring a way to grind out of the mud, though. It took Rapids more than half an hour before they were able to break through with their last goal of the game. Games like these are never easy and can dampen morale a bit,” adds Hahn, “But with some tough results as of late we’ve been talking about how important it is to flush mistakes, scorelines, etc. and move on. This is one we’ll flush and move on from with an eye towards the next opportunity.”