Owls Clipped by Eagles

On Saturday, the KSU Owls denied themselves a chance to lock up a playoff birth by losing to a very skilled Emory team 10-4. The Owls were penalized 14 times for a total of 16 minutes in the “sin” bin. According to Coach Byers, “The team needs to gain confidence and composure when the chips are down.” Although the Owls took themselves out of the game due to penalties there were some highlights for the young squad. Charlie Roland and Robert Witt both managed to score twice, and Witt also came through with an assist. JD Douthit added to his point total with an assist. Kyle Hansen saved 15 of the 25 shots Emory fired his way. Close defense once again came up with a good game, despite the 10 goals. Considering they were man or two men down for over a quarter of the game, allowing only 10 goals shows how well the unit is playing together.

Veteran players hope their up coming trip to the sunshine state this weekend will turn around their confidence level. The Owls will be traveling to Tampa/St. Pete area on Friday for a regional match-up with defending conference champion Eckerd on Saturday. Once again, a win in that game would give the Owls a playoff birth in their inaugural season. On Sunday, the team will travel to Orland to take on UCF. This game will show if the team has improved enough in its conditioning to come out strong after a game the day before. This has been something the team has struggled with and will be an important factor in their possible postseason run.