Junction City edged out the Sweet Home High School boys soccer team 1-0 at Junction City Monday evening.
“It was a very close game,” said Coach Ryan Regrutto. “We gave up the only goal of the game 60 minutes into the game.”
Junction City had a long free kick, Regrutto said. The goalie caught the ball but dropped it. Junction City players followed up on the kick and were able to knock it in.
While losing the game disappointed the players, Regrutto said, he is excited about the way they’ve been playing and the improvement they’ve brought onto the field from beginning of the season.
The past two years, two years ago in particular, Junction City beat Sweet Home pretty handily, Regrutto said. Just from Junction City’s cheering Monday, “you could tell how hard-fought it was.”
“The boys’ main emphasis is winning,” Regrutto said. “But the improvement is huge. We had some spells where we were passing the ball around and looking like a real soccer team. That’s just huge for me. I don’t know if the kids understand the huge leap they’ve made.”
Photo by
Sean C. Morgan
For the most part, they’ve been scoring every game, and last week, the Huskies were leading Elmira before losing 4-2 in overtime at home on Thursday.
The Huskies scored two goals quickly, inside the first 15 minutes, Regrutto said.
He thinks he might have contested a couple of calls more forcefully, he said. Elmira’s first goal was suspect when it came later in the first half.
At the same time, “we’re not accustomed to being ahead,” Regrutto said. “When we’re ahead, I feel like we take a step back.”
When a forward asks to go to defense to make sure the other team can’t score, he asks why not keep scoring more goals and avoid trying “not to lose” the game.
Ole Olsen scored the first goal, and Nene Mauer knocked it in on a header in the box.
Elmira scored the game-tying goal about midway through the second half, Regrutto said, but “we definitely had our chances.”
Elmira scored a goal five minutes into overtime and sealed the win. Regrutto pulled all the team up in an all-out attack to try to get a corner kick in, but it didn’t go, allowing Elmira a chance to score one more goal before the clock ran out.
“When we were down, the kids went all out,” Regrutto said. “We had our chances to tie the game back up.”
They showed their desire and commitment, and it was just unfortunate it didn’t go their way this time, he said.
The Huskies also lost to Cottage Grove 4-0 on the road on Oct. 16.
The junior varsity defeated Junction City 2-1 and Cottage Grove 1-0. Elmira did not have junior varsity team.
“They’ve done tremendously well,” Regrutto said of the JV.