Sweet Home’s girls soccer team hadn’t had a chance to play at home this year until Thursday, Nov. 19, when they faced off with the Husky boys in a full-length scrimmage match.
The girls, who have “eight or nine” seniors, showed their experience with some tight teamwork and crisp passing, but in the end the boys’ speed made the difference in a 6-1 win – at least that was the score Coach Ramiro Santana remembered.
“Actually, we’re pretty good,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of speed, but when it comes to playing the ball, I think we outplayed the boys.”
The week before, the girls played road games at Santiam Christian and Blanchet, winning 2-1 in Corvallis and losing 1-0 in Salem.
“Blanchet was actually a really good game,” Santana said. “We had one little ‘oops’ ball that sneaked into the goal. We dominated the game, we just didn’t score.”
Against the boys, the girls scored midway through the first half when Maddie Harris took the ball past a couple of defenders on the right side and slid the ball past diving goalie Evan Towry.
That was it for scoring for the girls, as the boys stiffened on defense and used their speed to keep the girls on the run for the rest of the game.
“We had some chances. They were lucky we didn’t score more,” Santana said, grinning. “Playing the boys was good practice for the girls. We had them running around.”
He is excited by the prospects of what could happen next spring, when the OSAA plans to hold a regular season that will last from Feb. 22 through May 2, he said.
Santana noted that the girls had had just two practices before having to take a 10-day break at the end of October due to a COVID scare. He said they had simply worked on drills for three days before playing Santiam Christian.
“We hadn’t even had a scrimmage. We have not played together,” he said. “We are really a new team.
“It was incredible, how they looked and how they played. We have really good chemistry, even though they haven’t played together much. That will be great for next season, if it happens. I’m pretty excited. I hope it happens.”