Emporia State’s women’s soccer team ended Friday night’s season opener exactly where they started. After 110 minutes of total play, the Hornet’s ended the game in a 0-0 tie against the Rambelles of Angelo State in this weekend’s MIAA/Lone Star Challenge.

Although able to keep up with the Rams during the first half, the Hornets found it difficult to maintain possession, unable to register any opportunities offensively. The Rambelles were able to generate three shots in the first half, but were denied by freshman goalie Natalie Hoernig twice – a theme that would occur throughout the game.

The second half showed more promise as the Hornets produced six goal opportunities but were unable to cash in on them.

“We got into a situation where they let us have portions of the field, and we didn’t do as good a job of taking as we should have,” said Head Coach Jim Schneiderhahn.  “I think it’s a lot of impatience from the standpoint of first game jitters and trying to sort everybody out.”

Despite being outshot through regulation 11 to six, the Hornets were able to hold their own defensively and force the game into overtime thanks to the play of Hoernig in her first outing.

“I got over (the jitters) pretty well,” Hoernig said. “The Defense played really well together, communicated well, and executed pretty good defense.”

In overtime, the Hornets continued to struggle to get much going offensively creating only one goal opportunity and allowing five. Hoernig saved three during the period, giving her 10 for the game.

“Early on (Hoernig) showed some jitters, but then came up with a couple of huge saves for us there at the end, and that’s what she needs to do for us,” Schneiderhahn said.

The Hornets were led by midfielder Jessica Decker, forward Ashley Hill, and defender Hannah Carlson, each contributing two shots for the Hornets. Midfielder Sarah Anderson also helped provide the Hornets with offense with one shot. For the Rambelles, Brandie Debacker led the way with eight shots.

Defensively, the future looks bright for the Hornets with Hoernig becoming the first ESU freshman to earn a shutout in her debut.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to play some more games as a freshman, and it gives me a good look forward into more years to come,” Hoernig said.

The Hornets continue play in the MIAA/Lone Star challenge on Sunday when they take on East Central.

Brandon Schneeberger/The Bulletin

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Head Coach Jim Schneiderhahn talks to his players before their exhibition game against Ottawa Friday evening at the ESU Pitch. Megan Gartner/ The Bulletin

What is your personal background?

I grew up playing soccer, baseball, football and basketball in St. Louis. Soccer is just the one that stuck. Being from St. Louis, it’s natural to be a baseball fan and root for the Cardinals. After I saw my first curveball, I knew my days of baseball were numbered. After high school, I attended Benedictine University from 1986-1990 to play soccer as a goalkeeper. My major was Journalism, with a minor in Business.

Did you step right into the coaching field?

Actually I took some time off. I worked for a service company of my father’s for three years, and then was a commercial photographer for two and a half years. I went back to Benedictine to get my teaching certificate to teach history at the high school level, and coach soccer at that level. That’s when I started coaching in the KC area for a soccer club until I got offered a job at Tulane University. I was the number one assistant, and the recruiting coordinator from 2000-2005.

What brought you to Emporia State?

I was there during Hurricane Katrina, which obviously had a big impact of where I am today. I lived just outside New Orleans, and my area was fortunate not to be flooded. However the building in which I worked had anywhere between five to 10 feet of water. Tulane suspended 11 other sports besides soccer. One thing I will never forget though is that many of our students were taken in as Tulane students by Texas A&M University. The work and hospitality that university showed is something I will never forget, and I will be appreciative to them for. In that summer, a personal friend contacted me about a job opening up here, and that May I moved back to Kansas.

What were your thoughts on last weeks’ exhibition game?

I liked about 80-85 percent of what they did. They did a nice job creating opportunities to score, but just didn’t capitalize on those chances. It is very critical to finish those plays when you have chances.

What are the biggest challenges going into this season?

Most people don’t realize that this is one of, if not the, best conference in the MIAA. The challenge is going to be week in and week out, playing tough competition. This year’s team isn’t as deep, so the team will have to really be more focused on what we are trying to get done. It sounds cliché, but we just need to take it one game at a time and get better every day.

Chris Hopkins/The Bulletin

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The Emporia State Soccer team has spent the first third of their season on the road, facing opponents on unfamiliar ground. They’re looking forward to a homecoming today versus Southwest Baptist at 4 p.m. and a chance to turn their season around.

The road trip hasn’t been kind to the Lady Hornets. During the month-long road trip, the soccer team is 1-5, with one tie. The lone win came against Missouri Southern, with the Hornets winning 1-0 in a tight MIAA battle. The players are feeling the effects – yet they’re not the only ones.

“I’m happy that for the first time in four weeks I’m not spending my time preparing for the road,” said Jim Schneiderhahn, head coach of the soccer team. “The hardest thing is getting all 20 players, the equipment and myself at one place and ready for a game. I know the girls are excited to play at home, and I hope that we’re able to channel that excitement into some activity when we kick-off on Thursday.”

The Southwest Baptist Bearcats are a team that the Hornets faced and lost to 3-0 earlier this season. The team looks to change the outcome this time around, using home field advantage the best that they can.

“We just saw SBU two weeks ago – it’s always difficult to play teams twice,” Schneiderhahn said. “We lost the first game 3-0, and we made a few physical errors. We didn’t see the work rate we need to see out of some players. This is a team we can match up with pretty well. They play a very hard game and they have some very savvy kids up top that can create for themselves.”

Ashley Hill, freshman secondary education major, is the leading scorer for the Lady Hornets with three goals on the season. Hill said she is extremely excited to play in her first collegiate home game – she will be looking to add to those goal totals and hopes winning this game will give ESU Soccer what it need to turn this season around.

“We need to come out ready to play and play to our full ability,” Hill said. “I think if we can win this game, it will give us the confidence to beat other teams this season.”

The Hornets will need to exploit every advantage they have to defeat a Southwest Baptist team that is 4-1-1. Amanda Miano, senior math education major, knows what it will to take to come away with a W.

“They’re really good in the middle, they win every 50-50 ball and they can shoot the ball well,” Miano said. “We’re looking to take players on, and we need to win more balls in the middle.”

The team has had difficulty putting the ball into the net this season, only scoring four goals in seven games. Schneiderhahn hopes that his game day strategy will be enough to produce goals.

“We need the forwards to create space and create runs for themselves off the ball, and we need the mid-fielders to get the ball there – they both need to step it up,” Schneiderhahn said. “Our wing mid-fielders need to step it up, particularly on the attacking end. They’re doing great defensively, but we’re not getting any punch from them on the attacking end of the ball. Our forwards need to be a little more dynamic up front. They need to be willing to risk a little bit more.”

-Austin Wagoner/The Bulletin.

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