It’s another tie for Wildcat soccer
September 26, 2008
By Ryan Piersol
Girls soccer team even with Liberty in league opener
The Mount Si girls soccer team may have found its offense, but the Wildcats are still locked in a tie.
Mount Si scored more than one goal in a match for the first time this season last week against Liberty, yet still was only able to manage a 2-2 tie. It was the third tie of the season already for the Wildcats, who are 1-1-3 overall and 0-0-1 in league play going into a home match with Mercer Island tonight at 7:30 p.m.
“Ties are tough,” head coach Darren Brown said. “But they tell me two things — one, we haven’t peaked yet and, two, our competition is getting better. In years past, we would’ve smoked some of these teams.”
The problem for Mount Si early in the season was a lack of offensive production, as the Wildcats mustered just two goals in their first four matches.
Trailing Liberty 1-0 at halftime, Mount Si’s offensive finally awakened, scoring that two-goal total in a matter of only nine minutes. The first score came after Stephanie Burk rebounded a long missed shot by Nikki Stanton in the 46th minute. Three minutes later, Mount Si grabbed a 2-1 lead when Burk fed Meghan Travis with a pass and Travis just beat the Liberty goal keeper to the ball for a score.
The Patriots rallied with an unassisted goal in the 64th minute to tie it up, and Mount Si missed several opportunities in the final minutes. The Wildcats rifled a header a few feet above the net in the 67th minute and a breakaway shot by Hailey Conway was saved by the keeper in the 71st minute.
A Liberty shot got past Mount Si goalkeeper Marika Loundenback with less than two minutes in regulation, but she was able to retrieve the ball before it got too far into the net. A pair of silent overtimes later, and it was another tie.
“Obviously we were pretty upset (at halftime). We had to shake up some things,” Brown said. “I just told them that they’re not playing the way they could play. I had to get on a few of them, really get on them.”
The tie with Liberty followed a 1-0 defeat of Lake Washington two days earlier. Victoria Falcon broke a scoreless tie in the 77th minute of that one, assisted by Meghan Travis.
The Liberty match was the league opener for the Wildcats. For them to perform as well as they expect in KingCo 3A/2A, Brown said he’ll have to see more consistency.
“We have to play the way we practice,” he said. “Our practices have been outstanding, but we come out here and I see a little deer in the headlights.”
Reach editor Ryan Piersol at editor@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.
Comments
Got something to say?
Before you comment, please note:
- These comments are moderated.
- Comments should be relevant to the topic at hand and contribute to its discussion.
- Personal attacks and/or excessive profanity will not be tolerated and such comments will not be approved.
- This is not your personal chat room or forum, so please stay on topic.
