The Huskies finished their girls soccer season with a pair of losses, 4-0 to Elmira and 3-1 to Junction City.
The Huskies trailed 2-0 at home on Oct. 20 after Elmira knocked in a pair of goals at the end of the first half.
The second goal was from a penalty kick after the ball apparent hit Allison Wickline in the hand, said Coach Ramiro Santana.
Elmira scored again 19 minutes and 38 minutes into the second half.
“We played pretty even pretty much,” Santana said, but a lot of the ref calls broke the other way.
“In the minute 12, we had another penalty kick – (goalie) Hailey Nicholson stopped that one.”
As part of senior night, the last game at home, “the first half we started with all of the seniors,” Santana said. “I set up a defense to be able to hold them.”
The seniors, many of whom were first-year soccer players, stayed on the field for about 20 minutes and then returned to start the second half.
Elmira scored again 19 and 38 minutes into the second half.
Elmira shot the ball 12 times with one penalty kick. The Huskies shot the ball eight times.
On the road, Junction City scored its first goal four minutes into the game. Nicholson stopped a penalty kick during the half.
Trailing 2-0 at halftime, Maddee Hawken scored in the first minute of the second half, Santana said. She scored the week before against Cottage Grove, her first high school goal.
“It was kind of need to see her score two,” Santana said. “Four years of playing soccer.”
Junction City scored three minutes later on a penalty kick, and the Huskies held Junction City the rest of the way.
“We played them tough,” Santana said. “We played pretty good.”
The Huskies shot the ball 10 times, while Junction City Shot it 13 times with a penalty kick.
Overall this year, “all of these teams are very strong,” Santana said. “We have a great group of girls. The first half of the season, we didn’t play as good as we did the second half.
“We had a lot of opportunities. Shooting wasn’t as accurate as it should’ve been.”
The second half of the season, “the girls played very, very, very good,” Santana said. “If we played the first half the way we played the second half, it would’ve changed the season. They did a great job.”
The teams they’re facing are generally above their level, Santana said. “They have more selection of soccer players, a lot of traveling teams. It’s always going to be very hard to have a team to compete at that level. We don’t have little kids coming up.”
Programs that had been in place are no longer running, and he had five or six seniors of the 11 graduating this year who never played soccer before.
They’re not going to be able to compete at the high school varsity level in one year, Santana said. He would like to find experienced players with some speed, an area his team is lacking. So he encourages his players to take up track and kick the ball around in the off season.
The team isn’t completely lacking in speed, he said. Cora McKee will return, and she’s running track this year.
He also praised Nicholson’s work in the box. She saw 158 shots on goal. She stopped 123, including four penalty kicks.
“That girl, she is amazing,” Santana said. “She is a heck of a goalie. She’s like one of my MVP players.”
The Huskies finish the season in last place, with a 1-9 league record and a 1-11-1 record overall.
They will hold their annual awards dessert at 6 p.m. on Nov. 5.
Cottage Grove, ranked 11th, and Sisters, ranked 12th, were scheduled to play in Sweet Home on Tuesday to break a tie for league champion.