The Sweet Home girls tied at Cascade 2-2 and lost at Lebanon 3-0 last week in soccer to finish the preseason 1-1-1.
“We had rough refereeing,” said Coach Ramiro Santana. “I’m not happy with the refereeing, but it’s one of those things we have to deal with.”
Cascade tied the Huskies at the end of their game on Sept. 13, Santana said.
“We were ahead all the time. It was a good game. We had the ball most, and we took more shots.”
Cascade kicked a long shot, and the ball started bouncing, Santana said. Megan Rubidoux blocked it with her chest, but a referee across the field called it a hand ball. Cascade scored the penalty kick to tie the game.
The Huskies scored first, in the 16th minute when Courtney Kent took it to the goal. Her shot bounced back when the goalie tried to grab it. She got a hold of it and took the shot in.
Cascade tied the game with a couple of minutes left in the first half, Santana said. Goalie Kristen Tolle tried to stop a shot. It bounced out, and Cascade kicked it in.
The Huskies came back with another goal 10 minutes into the second half, Santana said. Jessika Stewart took a shot, and like the other goals in this game, it bounced out of the goalie’s hands.
“It was kind of a little pile in there, some of them trying to save it and some trying to put it in,” Santana said. Stewart ended it by knocking the ball into the goal.
Cascade took about 13 shots. The Huskies had 24 or 25, while Kristen Tolle had seven or eight saves against the Cougars.
The Huskies lost 3-0 at Lebanon.
The girls had only three games before league play this year, Santana said. It’s not enough to time to experiment and see what all of the girls can do before league, so he drastically mixed up the lineup, breaking the team apart to find out what each player could do before the beginning of league play this week.
“We just don’t have enough games to do that,” Santana said, and if he hadn’t done that, he thinks his team could have beaten the Warriors.
Santana started with his bench team, he said, and the Huskies held through the first 30 minutes when defender Sabrina Davis went out with a twisted ankle.
“My defense broke a little bit,” Santana said, and Lebanon scored its first goal. Lebanon scored two more in the second half, one of them on another hand ball call that he disputes.
Both teams took about 17 or 18 shots, most of Lebanon’s in the second half and most of Sweet Home’s in the first half. Tolle had 13 good saves, Santana said, mostly in the second half when Lebanon was getting shooting opportunities.
League play begins on Thursday at Cottage Grove.
“So far, we’re looking all right,” Santana said. “I’m thinking we should be OK.”