Featured Photo by Paige Mast
Story by Jacob Burgess
Middle Tennessee soccer is set for the start of Conference USA play; hosting Florida International to kick off the important stretch of the season.
The field grew to 10 teams with the addition of Kennesaw State while the six-team playoff format is kept for the 2024 postseason. This will tighten the field, especially for a team like MTSU that sits on the bubble competing for one of the final playoff spots.
Though the field has tightened, the goal stays the same for Middle Tennessee as they try to play into December, head coach Aston Rhoden said.
“I think everyone has that mindset of just wanting to win and obviously coming out of pre-conference play we want to reset our schedule and come off a clean sheet, 0-0 again and just come out on top,” forward Arianna Kinsley said.
Getting to December presents challenges from an internal side for the Blue Raiders as well as challenges within the conference.
On the MTSU side, chemistry is still building throughout the field. Offensively a season ending injury to forward Emma Pettersen opens an important spot to fill. The two games since Pettersen injury, Kinsley has started in the center forward position.
The role is a big one to fill but the confidence is building playing with the starting lineup more now, Kinsley said.
The backline chemistry is growing with each game. The center back duo of Sascha Nielsen and Emma Brown continue to improve along with connection to freshman goalkeeper Demi Gronauer.
“We have definitely developed as a backline with our communication and just being on the same page in general,” Nielsen said. “We are good at stepping together and dropping together and getting the attackers offside sometimes.”
Gronauer took over in net game one, giving MTSU a new presence in goal. Gronauer leads the conference in saves sitting at 35 averaging 4.38 saves per game.
The freshman goalie’s play style is built around pure shot-stopping, the leadership and communication skills will come with time at the college level.
Gronauer can see the whole field, so communication is key along with communicating up the field and her guiding us helps find the right solution, Nielsen said.
The challenges the conference brings are the top three teams above the rest of the field. Currently, throughout conference play, teams four through 10 have a max of three wins. The top three teams likely making the postseason, leaves only three spots for the other seven teams that could be considered all bubble teams.
Middle Tennessee will start with one of those top three teams in FIU at home. The last matchup between the two teams ended 2-0 in MTSU favor with current players Manon Lebargy and Idun Kvaale scoring.
Against the rest of the conference MTSU finished 2-5-1, with three of the losses being by one goal. Any team’s goal is to win games but turning a loss to a tie does have some benefits in the point column.
Jacob Burgess is the lead sports reporter for MTSU Sidelines
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