Illinois wants a game, too? Oh, yeah.
But the optimism began to wane after a spate of preseason injuries. Sobers prefers to apply pressure by keeping up a constant rotation during games — 20 players have seen action in at least 12 matches the last two years — but several stalwarts have been out all season with ailments.
Shorthanded Wright State, predictably, couldn’t hold up against some of the Big Ten’s best, falling, 6-0, in both games.
“We went through murderers’ row in the teams we’ve faced,” said Sobers, who also included Dayton in that bunch. “If you would’ve asked me in July, knowing what I know now, maybe I would’ve scheduled more games that weren’t as formidable with the players we have out.”
The 5-1 defeat to the Flyers was humbling after having lost tighter games the previous two years in the series: 3-0 and 2-0.
“Against UD, for all of 50 minutes, the game was evenly balanced. We give one up, and heads go down a little bit. And UD, being the good team they are, in about a 15-minute span, scored four goals,” Sobers said.
“We got it back (mentally), but the damage was done. It’s a good lesson for us.”
The Raiders, who are 2-5 in year four under Sobers, will open the conference with three straight home games: 7 p.m. Thursday against Green Bay, 1 p.m. Sunday vs. Milwaukee and 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29, against Cleveland State.
After ending up seventh in the league at 3-6-2 in Sobers’ first year, they’ve finished fourth (5-2-3) and fifth (4-3-3) the last two seasons.
They were picked fourth in the preseason poll, but that was before losing several experienced players for the year.
Kaitlyn Eyink, a sophomore defender from Findlay who made the HL all-freshman team last year, is playing while ailing. Said Sobers: “We’ve had to ease her into the season.”
But Olivia Stroud, a freshman forward from Fairfield, has emerged as a potential star. She went into the week tied for first in the league in points with eight and tied for third in goals with three.
“She’s a player, without the injuries, who might not have gotten the minutes early on. She’s done well for us. It’s a good sign that she’s picked up where we hoped those other kids would be,” Sobers said.
Junior Kaylee Pham (Springboro), a former all-freshman team pick, is having a strong season on the back line. And junior Elise Canter (Beavercreek), also a former all-freshman team pick, “has been a rock for us in the midfield,” the coach said.
Though the 35-player roster has been reduced to 23 healthy players, the Raiders are still looking to contend for the league title and notch their first victory in the HL tourney since 2017.
“We’ve got to protect home field. Everybody says it, but the games at home, we’ve got to get results from those,” he said.
“If we can minimize mistakes and be difficult to score on, we should be in games. We just want to make ourselves hard to beat. We’ll be there at the end if we can do those things.”
MEN’S SOCCER: Senior midfielder Brock Pickett was named the league defensive player of the week from the team’s conference opener.
He logged a full 90 minutes against IU Indy and helped Wright State pull off a 2-0 upset.
He’s the program’s first player of the week since Reece Allbaugh in 2021.
The Raiders (3-3), who allowed only two shots on goal, were picked ninth in the preseason poll, while the Jaguars were picked fourth.
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