Sweet Home girls soccer fell to Stayton 2-1 at home last Thursday.
The result was a marked improvement from the first time they faced off against the Eagles this season, after they lost 5-0 at Stayton on March 16.
Head Coach Ramiro Santana said that this time around, Sweet Home knew the players they would be facing.
“Stayton’s midfielder Tori Nyquist did a lot of damage to us in the first game. She was very physical.”
This time Sweet Home’s Brookelynn Burke covered Nyquist.
“It made a heck of a difference,” said Santana.
Santana also had Crystal Wolf covering Stayton forward Maddie Pask. Wolf played some lock-down defense on the back line.
“We put those two individuals in and told them, you have to stay with those girls,” he said. “Whatever you do, you need to follow them.”
Santana also said that this time against Stayton, “Our girls wanted the ball more. And we were more aware of Stayton and the talent that they have, so we were able to match up better than the first time.”
He said that, “Everybody, as a team, did a better job. I was pretty proud of the way our girls played that game.”
“We had the ball more than they did, and we had opportunities,” he said. He said that his team had the ball 80% of the time during the game.
But he said “Stayton has the speed, and that’s how they ended up scoring. Anything that goes over the top of our defender’s heads, they have runners, and they’re faster than us and can catch up with a ball.”
“When it comes to speed, it’s something that we don’t have,” he said.
Stayton scored two goals to take a 2-0 lead into halftime, the first coming in the 9th minute and the second coming in the 24th.
Sweet Home scored 17 minutes into the second half to bring the score to 2-1, when Maren Weld kicked the ball in shortly after a corner kick was sent into the middle of the field by Natalie Rodgers.
This week, the Huskies (2-6-1) host Junction City (2-5-1) on Tuesday, April 6, and Estacada (2-5-2) on Thursday in some add-on competition.
“Junction City is a pretty competitive team, but we match them,” said Santana. “It’s going to be tough playing with them but I think it could go either way.”
Looking ahead to the Estacada match, Santana said, “I haven’t played them for a long time, so I don’t know what to expect from them because they come from the Portland area.”
But he said that the teams are better up north than the teams around Sweet Home, “so that’s going to be a good challenge for us.”
Boys lose at Stayton
Sweet Home’s boys lost 8-0 at Stayton, which remains undefeated after giving up three goals in nine games.
The Huskies (0-7) will finish their season by hosting Junction City (2-7) at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 6.