The Sweet Home girls played “the best game we’ve ever played” Monday at Blanchett, but it wasn’t quite enough as they lost 4-3.
Blanchett, which had home field advantage for the second year in a row, thanks to a scheduling twist, benefited from the Huskies’ inability to get the ball into the net, Coach Ramiro Santana said.
“They’re good, but we matched them,” he said. “We played them equal.”
Sweet Home had more shots than the hosts, but “they went every which way but into the goal line,” he said. “It was one of those days. We dominated the game.”
Blanchett scored barely a minute into the game, but Jessica Snow responded with a goal on a cross from Megan Rubidoux to tie the score a few minutes later.
At the 17 minute mark, Sarah Nelson had the ball with her back to the goal and spun and shot, catching the Blanchett defenders and goalkeeper off guard and putting a “beautiful” goal in the net, Santana said.
The Huskies led until the 45th minute of the first half, when Blanchett tied it up at 2-2.
In the second half, Blanchett took a 3-2 lead with a goal in the 16th minute, but Rochelle Zamacona responded two minutes later with a shot from the right side that arched over the goalie’s head and into the net.
Blanchett got a final goal in the 27th minute and held on to win.
The Huskies, now 0-4-2 in a very tough league, return home Thursday to host Gervais at 4:!5 p.m.
“The girls are getting so good,” Santana said. “It’s so fun to watch these games. We lost, but I couldn’t be happier with the way we are playing. We’re there. We’re playing good teams. We’re putting things together.”
Sweet Home 2, Riverdale 2
The Huskies tied their second game of the season, falling just shy of notching a win on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at Riverdale.
The teams tied 2-2.
“We should’ve won it,” Coach Ramiro Santana said. The Huskies scored their first goal 10 minutes into the game when Kristen Tolle knocked in a penalty kick. Jessika Stewart followed up within the next couple of minutes with a header to take a solid 2-0 lead.
Riverdale pushed back and tied the game before halftime on a couple of drives straight to the goal. In one of them, goalie Kaitlin Keenon got her hands on the ball, but it slipped out, giving Riverdale a goal.
“It was one of those goals that never should have happened,” Santana said.
“We just kind of played their game,” Santana said. Most of the time though, the Huskies were in control and they fired off many shots on goal, bouncing several off the posts.
In the second half, the Huskies and Riverdale went back and forth in a lull as the Huskies stopped passing the ball and communicating as they had been.
Overall, “we played good,” Santana said. “I was happy. It was one of those things we could’ve had it.”