The Husky boys soccer team lost to Cascade 3-0 and Stayton 6-1 at home to wrap up its season.
Against Stayton on Oct. 20, the Huskies ?played them pretty tight for awhile,? Coach Karl Schmidtman said. About halfway through the first half, Stayton scored its first goal.
Stayton is a good team, with good ball control, speed and strong offense, Schmidtman said.
In the second half, Brandon Elliott scored when the ball crossed the middle, Schmidtman said. He ran up and got a shot that squeaked by the goalie inside the post.
?They played real hard,? Schmidtman said. ?They looked like they were having fun. We just ran up against a team that?s maybe a little bit deeper than we were.?
Cascade had one player score all three of its goals, Schmidtman said. Two were on controversial foul calls, but both shots were good free kicks. On the third, the player beat the Husky defense and took his shot.
?We played well, and we had opportunities to score,? Schmidtman said. ?Their defense held us off just enough.?
The team finishes with a 1-13 record.
?We did a lot of things right,? Schmidtman said. ?We just had a hard time finishing the plays, getting that last piece of the puzzle.
?I think we understand the game of soccer even though we didn?t that many games. We had a great time this season.?
The Huskies will lose eight seniors, who helped bring the team to a 5-6-2 record last year.
?We should have a very young team next year,? Schmidtman said. The team returns four juniors, Casey Hanscam, Kevin Young, Jason Long and Rob Helfrich, and two sophomores, Michael Bolduc and Elliott.
Elliott played varsity his freshman year and Schmidtman looks for him to score next year. Bolduc ?was very impressive? coming in as backup goalie then winning the position after a great game against Junction City, Schmidtman said. He has good size and instincts for the goal, and Schmidtman is looking forward to seeing his progress next year.
Schmidtman is looking for Hanscam to step in as a team leader next year. Hanscam has good speed which should help him score at the forward position next year.
?All these guys have been in the program for awhile,? Schmidtman said. ?They all know what I expect, so we?ll be looking for some leadership from them.?
The team will be rounded out by upcoming junior varsity players and a solid class of incoming freshmen, Schmidtman said. ?It?s going to be a very different looking team.?