In their first week of gameplay, Sweet Home Girls soccer bested Junction City at home 2-1, before falling to Klamath Union 4-0 on the road.
Head Coach Ramiro Santana said Sweet Home and Junction City were “kind of rivals in the past,” as the two teams used to be in the same league.
“We still have the rivalry,” he said. “We always have fun playing against them, and they feel the same way.”
He said the first game of the season was a “learning experience.”
“We don’t have a lot of experienced players in there, but we competed against them pretty well,” he said.
Senior forward Maddie Harris started off the scoring in the 15th minute to put the Huskies up 1-0.
Then, 35 minutes into the game, senior defender Meagan Baham scored from a free kick taken all the way from behind the mid field hash.
The Huskies were leading 2-0 at halftime, until Junction City scored 35 minutes into the second half. But Sweet Home was able to hold their one goal lead for the rest of the contest.
Klamath Union proved to be more of a tall order for the Huskies.
“Their speed is unbelievable, and they have it everywhere, from defenders to forwards,” Santana said of the Pelicans. “Once they figured out how to use their speed, it was almost unstoppable.”
Still, he said that his team played “really good” the first 30 minutes of the game. But Klamath Union ended up scoring four times in the contest while Sweet Home was unable to find the back of the net.
“When it comes to speed, we are going to struggle to play against fast teams, because we don’t have very fast girls,” Santana said.
The Huskies will be back in action Thursday, Sept. 9, hosting Portland Christian.They open league play Tuesday, Sept. 14, at Woodburn.