Sweet Home boys soccer’s first week of games resulted in two close losses, first to Junction City 4-3, and the next day to Klamath Union 1-0.
Both games were on the road.
The Huskies jumped out to a 2-0 lead at Junction City with goals by freshman Max Klumph and Sophomore Ben Tolman.
The Tigers clawed back into the game with two goals of their own to tie the contest at 2-2 going into halftime.
With 20 minutes left in the second half, Junction City scored, before Klumph scored again off a penalty kick to knot the game at 3-3.
Then with eight minutes left in the contest, a Junction City player got on a breakaway after a miscommunication between two Husky defenders and ended up scoring to put the Tigers up 4-3, a lead they would not relinquish.
Head Coach Eric Stutzer said that though he was a bit nervous going into the game, the boys played “pretty well right out of the gate.”
He said that after halftime, his team struggled with fatigue.
Despite the short turnover time between the “physical” Junction City game and the next day’s contest at Klamath Union, Stutzer said that he was impressed with his team’s demeanor and that his squad warmed up well against the Pelicans.
Still, in the first half the Pelicans had 10 shots on goal compared to none for the Huskies. Klamath Union capitalized on one of their ten shots about ten minutes before halftime, bringing the score to 1-0, a tally that would remain until the final whistle.
The Huskies offense showed signs of life in the second half, however, placing seven shots on goal.
“Their goalie played really well,” Stutzer said.
He mentioned that Sweet Home’s keeper, junior Evan Towry, had six or seven saves in the losing effort.