Defensively, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga soccer team has given itself a chance to be competitive against even the toughest of opponents.
Now coach Gavin McKinney wants the offense to catch up to the defense.
The Mocs (1-3) have scored eight goals this season, a solid number for four games by most standards. Yet all eight of those goals came in one match - a one-sided victory over Alabama A&M on Aug. 21 in which the Mocs had the second-best scoring output in program history.
Aside from the 1-0 loss to Alabama this past Sunday, the Mocs have outplayed their opponents, for the most part. They had a slow first half against Kennesaw State and trailed 1-0 at intermission but had better possession than the Owls. The same was the case against Murray State last Friday, when UTC outshot the Racers 18-14 and had shots glance off the post and the crossbar in a 2-0 loss.
"We just need to show a little bit more quality in that final area," McKinney said. "We played well enough to maybe get something out of the three losses we have. It's about process right now, and SoCon play is what we want to get ready for. We really want to make a push once we get into SoCon games, so any lesson now we can take - whether it be good or bad - we've got to keep striving to be better every day."
McKinney's Mocs have only one game this weekend, on Sunday at Morehead State. They will be home next weekend for matches against UT-Martin and Belmont.
Mocs on the road
Aside from the football team, all other UTC sports this week are away from Chattanooga. The volleyball team, 4-0 for the season, heads to Dayton, Ohio, to participate in the Dayton Invitational. The Mocs will face Northwestern, Xavier and Dayton over the two-day span.
The cross country teams have two races scheduled this weekend, on Friday at Jacksonville State and Saturday at Belmont. Each race will be a five-kilometer event, with former assistant coach Amanda Cotter taking over head coaching responsibilities after the Aug. 24 retirement of longtime coach Bill Gautier.
The men's golf team is competing in the Turning Stone-Tiger Intercollegiate in Verona, N.Y.
Mark Guhne's Mocs have a mix of five newcomers joining five returning players, led by 2016 Tennessee Amateur champion Wes Gosselin.
"There is a lot of competition for playing time," Guhne said in a release. "That's really good. Just getting into the lineup is tough, which should make us stronger come tournament time."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @gene henleytfp.