Box Score

San Francisco, CA -- The Urban Knights were without their regular goalkeeper for Tuesday's game against BYU-Hawaii, and the Seasiders took advantage. Backup goalkeeper Rebecca Mandell, who has regularly played forward for the Knights, made her first start after Jessica Bibby was diagnosed with a concussion after last week's match at Grand Canyon. BYU-Hawaii, in fourth place to start the day, made a couple plays that may have gone differently with the Urban Knights regular keeper in there, and that was the difference as the Seasiders won 3-0.

The Knights (3-9-2, 1-7-2 PWC) got nine shots off against the Seasiders, but were again hit with a setback due to injury to one of their best players. Earlier in the year it was Megan Bucci who was recovering. Against Grand Canyon, the Knights played without Haily McDonald and Jessica Madrid. The hits kept on coming against BYU-Hawaii as Magda Torres was subbed out late in the first half with an apparent head injury. Now with Bibby going down, the Knight are left with Mandell and Verity Peets, a newcomer to the women's squad this year, to split time between the posts.

"We have had an unfortunate run of head injuries the past three weeks, starting with Bucci's concussion early on and then Haily's at the hands of Dominican and Bibby at Grand Canyon," Nasypany said. "I am happy to say that Magda, will be good to go for the remainder of the season. Magda is a strong defensive presence for us in the midfield. She has stepped in the second half of the season for a lot of minutes and made valuable contributions to our defensive efforts." 

The keeper is an integral part of that defensive effort as well, often calling out instructions to her midfielders and defense. Bibby is a keeper through and through, and her experience showed through even as she took a turn up in the press box taking video of today's game, often encouraging her teammates down on the field after a good play, and visibly itching to get back on the field to contribute.

"I do feel the team was missing a spark without their general in the back. Jessica is a special, and her voice and distribution were missed," Nasypany said. "It was a diffiicult decision on a replacement keeper as both Becca and Verity bring very different advantages to the position. I feel Becca gave her best effort for a first-time performance in net. Goalkeeper Coach Revel has done an outstanding job with our three keepers this year, bringing their knowledge and technical ability to a whole new level."

The Knights have been the victims of the missed opportunity all year, and today was just another example of that, as freshman Louise Fillingham missed a chance in the opening minutes of the game that ended up creating an opportunity on the other end for the Seasiders and Natalie Drewery for her sixth goal of the season to put BYU-Hawaii up 1-0 only six minutes into the game.

But Fillingham, along with senior Olivia Dupon, is another one of the solid group of defenders for the Urban Knights that also includes freshman Sophie Meneses and juniors Jasmine Sharp and Tanner McCandlish. FIllingham and Meneses look to be learning a lot from their older teammates, and it has stood out to their coach.

"Lou (Fillingham) is not waiting until next year to show she is following Olivia's lead. Lou was not only been a force on defense but has now found her way into our offense, with two quality strikes on frame today," Nasypany said. "The last seven matches have been filled with these exact opportunities and if this young team can find the composure to finish our chances first, the momentum will start shifting in our direction."

The Knights will have a long break to rest their players, get some of them recuperated, and make a final push to move up in the PacWest Conference standings before the end of 2011. With a full nine days between Wednesday's game and their next game on November 4 against Dominican University (CA). 

"The coaching staff is going to re-evaluate a few players, including the keeper spot, and make sure we have our best 11 on the field," Nasypany said. "We are looking for a group that are all on the same page and know the sacrifices needed to pull off our best season in our short history. I am looking forward to an exciting memorable two game campaign to round off our three month journey that has been filled with tremendous steps forward for my young program."