Girls soccer team continues suffering scoreless drought
By Ryker Burr
For The New Era
The Sweet Home girls soccer team endured its eighth straight loss and sixth winless week of the season as they faced league-rivals Philomath and Newport.
It has been over three weeks since Sweet Home has scored a goal.
The Philomath matchup did contain a bright spot though: It was the first game against the Warriors where the Huskies weren’t mercy-ruled since 2021, ending a five-game streak, which turns out to be one of the longest mercy-rule streaks against a single opponent in all of 4A.
“Our team is playing better day by day. We are becoming more competitive,” Head Coach Ramiro Santana stated.
But on the road at Newport, Sweet Home wasn’t able to keep that momentum going and were mercy-ruled for the fifth time this year, 0-8.
Santana had high praise for midfielder Ziarra Duncan: “She is the one girl who gives us more energy and is willing to play the game to her best at all times.”
It’s been five straight games since Sweet Home has scored a goal, but Santana has a plan to fix that: “We need to take more shots at the goal, be motivated to score. We need to tell the girls to have fun playing the game of soccer.”
He added on, “More positive discipline is all we need to get all our girls playing to our best no matter what the score is.”
The Green and Gold will look to capture their first league (and second overall) victory of the year in Week 8, taking on league-rivals North Marion/St. Paul (6-1, second in league coming into this week), then Stayton (2-5). These will be the final two home contests for the Huskies, on Tuesday, Oct. 21 and Thursday, Oct. 23, both at 6 p.m. They will finish the season Oct. 28 against Cascade, which was also 2-5 coming into this week.
Boys fall to Philomath, Newport
The Huskies fell 4-1 to the Cubs after losing 7-0 on the road Tuesday at Philomath.
They play two of the state’s top teams, North Marion and Stayton, on the road this week.
