Sweet Home 1, Elmira 1
The Sweet Home High School girls soccer team tied Elmira 1-1 at home Thursday evening.
Haley Kent scored the first goal about 10 minutes into the game off a corner kick by Katie Virtue.
The Huskies piled up in the middle, and Kent got her foot on it, Coach Ramiro Santana said.
Elmira brought eight seniors and eight juniors to the game, Santana said. “They’re pretty good. They’re tall. They’re quick.”
That was the Huskies’ problem on Sept. 25 at Cottage Grove when they lost 3-0, he said. “They got us on the speed. We don’t compete with the speed they have. It’s really hard to compete when the other team’s faster than you are.”
But Cottage Grove went scoreless in the second half after Santana matched his players one-for-one to the opponent, he said. Thursday, he started the game that way. Forward Katie Virtue spent time on defense as a result, and the Huskies were able to foil the speed advantage enough to get a goal in.
The Huskies led 1-0 against Elmira at halftime, and they held their lead most of the way, with the momentum going back and forth.
Elmira scored its goal on a corner kick with about seven minutes left.
The game should have gone into overtime, but the officials called the game a tie under older rules, Santana said. The game will be recorded as a tie.
“Every game we’ve played so far has been better and better,” Santana said. The girls are young. They’re trying to be aggressive, but sometimes they don’t know what to do with it, how to use it.
“But so far, I think the girls are looking better, looking more like a team,” he said. They’re taking the initiative and trying to figure out what it will take to beat an opponent. They’re bringing suggestions to the coach, and they’re getting better at that strategic part of the game.