The high school girls soccer team lost 4-0 at Junction City in what their coach thinks was a promising game and 4-2 at home against Elmira.
Against Elmira, the Huskies still had girls who were sick, Coach Ramiro Santana said. All season, one gets better and another one gets sick, so they haven’t been on their game all at once.
“I think we were a little on the slow side,” Santana said. “I think the girls were not focused. I think we didn’t play at our normal level.”
They looked tired, Santana said. “We made a couple of mistakes, and it was too late to come back.”
The Huskies trailed 2-0 at halftime. Megan Rubidoux scored a pair of goals for the Huskies in the second half, but Elmira added two more to win the game.
Against Junction City, the story was much different despite the Huskies going scoreless.
“The first half, we actually dominated the game,” Santana said. The score was tied at zero at halftime as they held off one of the best players Santana has seen in at this level.
ShayLee Miner beat the Huskies, he said. “She is very, very talented. She is very quick with her feet.”
He put three girls on her, and they held her through the first half, but she was unstoppable, he said. She scored twice and assisted once. In one of her goals, she soloed her way past six Huskies and then the goalie.
All of her shots were from outside the goal area, he said.
“It’s probably one of the best games we played,” he said. The Huskies could have tied the game if they could have held the girl back.
But Junction City had some good performances elsewhere, Santana said. During the first half, Junction City’s goalie stopped six or seven good shots from the Huskies.
The Huskies play their last home game against Sisters on Thursday. They travel to La Pine on Monday.
They still have a chance at making league playoffs depending on how games turn out this week. If Junction City beats Elmira and the Huskies can at least beat La Pine and tie Sisters, they have a chance to make playoffs.
He thinks his team could at least tie Sisters, he said.
“They’ve been killing everybody,” he said of Sisters, but the Huskies held the Outlaws to one of their lowest scores earlier this season.
The girls looked about their best against Junction City, Santana said. “They’re getting better and playing like they should be playing.”
“It will be in our hands,” Santana said. “If we beat La Pine, we still maybe have an opportunity to get in.”