A costly loss at Central motivated the Sweet Home girls soccer team to its first win, a 2-1 victory at Taft, last week.
“We’re working to put some pieces together,” Coach Ramiro Santana said.
Central 3, Sweet Home 1
The Huskies played at Central Sept. 11 and came away two players down after what Santana described as a game “with a lot of grabbing, pushing and holding.”
Defender Cassie Coulter suffered a broken collarbone in the first half and then, 10 minutes later, Sabrina Davis went down with an injured knee after being twisted to the ground by the hosts.
“We lost two defenders there,” Santana said. “For a minute I thought I’d lost Sabrina for the whole season too. I was really mad.”
Sweet Home got an early goal from Katie Virtue and the teams went into halftime tied, but the hosts took advantage of the Huskies defensive liabilities in the second half to score two more.
“Before (the injuries) we could play with that team,” Santana said. “I was about ready to pull my team off the field.”
Meanwhile, the junior varsity shut out Central 5-0. Phoebe Olsen and Karson Rodgers both scored two goals and Aspen Szubart scored one, while goalkeeper Natalie Currey and the Husky defense allowed two shots on goal.
Sweet Home 2, Taft 1
Against the speedy Tigers, Sweet Home played smart and got a pair of goals from Virtue and freshman Ashley Wickline, along with some big saves from goalkeeper Haley Kent.
“We kind of pulled our heads together when we went to Taft,” Santana said, adding that the Tigers are “really good this year.”
Sweet Home, though, started passing and playing more aggressively.
“We have a lot of bruises on our legs and arms but it was better for us,” he said.
The Huskies scored first on Virtue’s goal, which Taft responded to with a tying score before halftime.
With about five minutes left in the second half, Alana Long crossed the ball to Wickline, who poked it in for the winning goal.
“We have to work and put some pieces together,” Santana said. “We;re getting better day by day. I just takes a little while to figure it out.”
Sweet Home opens the Sky-Em season Thursday, hosting La Pine at 4:30 p.m. The Hawks were 1-2 coming into their final pre-season game Tuesday against Crook County after beating Madras in their opener.