Sweet Home girls soccer lost a pair of lopsided contests on the road last week, falling to Stayton 5-0 and Philomath 8-0.
“They have a fast team,” Head Coach Ramiro Santana said of Stayton. “When it comes to quickness, we don’t have fast girls. They are faster than we are when it comes to approaching the ball.”
“We played as best as we could against the speed they had. We moved the ball. They didn’t beat us by moving the ball, they beat us by the speed they had,” he said.
Santana said his team had opportunities to score. Natalie Rodgers had a penalty kick opportunity. But the Huskies were not able to capitalize.
“Anytime we play teams that are fast, we hold them for a certain amount of time. But you can’t stop speed.
“It’s just one of those things that is against our team. We can move the ball, but we don’t have the speed to match some teams. Sisters, Philomath and Stayton, we’re going to struggle with those teams because we cannot match the speed,” said Santana.
His team certainly did struggle with Philomath on Friday, as the score suggests.
“One on one, they’re going to beat us,” said Santana.
“Philomath is even better than Stayton. They’re more aggressive and more pushy. As soon as you get the ball they give you a push forward to take you out of balance.
“Obviously, we’re not as physical as those girls are.”
This week, the Huskies face Cascade and Sisters, both at home. Sweet Home beat Cascade 2-1 on March 3, and will line up against Sisters for the first time this season on Thursday March 25.
Regarding Cascade, Santana said, “We match with them. They’re a good team to play with because they pass it around like we do. We’re pretty even. It can go either way.”
But, he said, “I think we’re a better team at moving the ball around more.”
“We move the ball very good, but it’s just not fast,” he added.
He also said that he thinks his team has better shooters than Cascade’s.
In the Sisters matchup, Santana said, “we’re probably going to struggle.” But he said “we will work in the couple of practices that we have to see what we can do to do better with them. It will be another test.”