Soccer is a cruel game
There is no other sport in the world were a group of players can do so many things right and end up losing.
A team can have more than 80 percent of the possession time and shoot over 30 times, only to lose the match by an unfortunate own goal.
American football might be know as the game of inches, but more often than not, it is the tiniest of touches that define soccer.
As the famous Dutch soccer star Johan Cruijff said, "The difference between right and wrong is often not more than five meters.”
A minuscule deflection off a defender or pass that pops up a right before a player shoots can drastically change the course of a match.
This is the case for the Central Michigan University's women’s soccer team.
This past weekend was an unlucky one for CMU. The team was able to instill their style of play onto both matches by passing well and creating plenty of chances.
Though everything seemed to be going right for them, the team consistently remained just one or two passes away from scoring.
CMU passes and shots would hit off their fellow Chippewas instead of finding the desired destination.
Western Michigan scored off a deflection that happened to bounce around in the box just long enough for a WMU player to poke it home.
Against NIU, the team put in one of its best offensive performances of the season.
The women forced the Huskies to make 8 saves, but scored just one goal.
NIU managed three shots on goal, but won because Huskie Laura Gierman mishit a free kick under the CMU wall and into the bottom corner of the goal.
Unlucky moments can be incredibly frustrating for a team and destructive to the rest of a season.
Weaker teams would succumb to this kind of irritation, but this team has said they know they must stay strong.
Head Coach Peter McGahey stresses consistency.
At some point, all of the bad bounces will start going the Chippewa's way.
It will be at that moment that all these struggles will seem like distant memories.
If the Chippewas keep at it, eventually their time to shine will come.
