By Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter
On Tuesday night the Merrill soccer team traveled to Marshfield for their second meeting with the Tigers. The Jays struggled and it showed on the scoreboard as they lost by a score of 8-0.
Merrill head coach Erich Wallace had some frustrations with his teams effort in the first half saying, “Our guys just looked flat the first half. We gave up an easy goal early off of a Marshfield player’s shot that was meant to be a cross and floated over goalie Mason Gebert’s head after no one on our defense really addressed the ball and we didn’t really turn back from there. We didn’t bring the intensity and were not used to a muddy, bumpy field and it showed.”
After giving up three first half goals, coach Wallace addressed his team at halftime and he felt they made some adjustments. “I gave the harshest halftime speech I believe I have ever given in my coaching career and saw some guys pick it up the second half, but Marshfield still put in five goals off of some legit chances, and some defensive miscues on our part. I honestly wasn’t that upset about letting five goals in because I saw more of the intensity I was looking for out of the guys.”
Despite the blowout loss, coach Wallace still believes in his team going forward. “We are looking forward to taking on Rapids next week at home, Medford away, and Lakeland at home. All of these are winnable games and we hope to finish the season strong going into playoffs.”
Merrill’s next game will be at home as they host Wisconsin Rapids on Tuesday, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m.