Girls tie Elmira 0-0 in soccer tune-up before starting league
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Sean C. Morgan
HANNAH POWELL, left, goes up to get control of a ball from Elmira's Paige Reichenberger as Megan Baham, center, and Maddie Harris watch.
Sweet Home's girls haven't had much of a chance to warm up as they move into their league season this week.
One game. The good news, though is that although their Sept. 6 matchup at home against Elmira ended in a 0-0 tie, the defensive ability Coach Ramiro Santana expected to see materialized in a shutout.
"We have a good defense right now," Santana said. (Goalkeeper Moira Curtis) stopped "four pretty close shots by Elmira" in the second half.
Offensively, Sweet Home had opportunities but Elmira's goalie was "good" and the Huskies had trouble hitting the corners of the goal. Still, they had their chances.
Torree Hawken, Natalie Rodgers and Maren Weld all had shots.
"Natalie missed one, I don't know how she did it," he said. "We're kicking it straight to the goalie."
The Huskies need to work on their shooting, ball handling and their speed, he said.
MAREN WELD battles with an Elmira opponent for ball control.
"This was our first game," he said. "It will come. Compared to last year, we have a good group and they've bonded."
Their league season opens with Woodburn Tuesday, Sept. 10, which should give them a "great" indication of how they are going to match up with the rest of the Oregon West Conference.
"It's going to be a good challenge for us, for me as a coach," Santana said. "Woodburn has a lot of talent. As long as we stay on our game, our defenders stay put. The girls are getting better. We'll get to see what we need to work on with a team like this because that's not the only one."
Sweet Home will play Thursday at Philomath.
"We have four (road games) in a row after this one home game," Santana said. "They're all good teams."
