Cougar girls struggle for want of substitutions vs. Hornets, Stangs
From our weekly issue dated October 14, 2009
The Illinois Valley girls soccer team played last week with 10 or fewer players due to illness, injury, accountability issues and academic competitions.
These challenges are tough on the Cougars. But coach Roz Brown and her staff have done an excellent job preparing their team, and the girls have met the challenges head-on.
In Cave Junction on Tuesday, Oct. 6, the Cougars only fielded nine players, and to make it fair the Henley Hornets also played with only nine. What a classy action to take. However, there was a downside. The Hornets brought 18 girls and substituted nine at a time. They always had fresh players.
“We had no subs, and my girls played with everything they had,” said Brown. The Cougars mixed it up a little and played Laurissa Tausaga in goal, where she performed well and had a 50 percent save-ratio with five saves. The Hornets took a 5-0 lead into the second half.
The Cougars played much better in the second half, as Tausaga returned to the field, and Xenia Velasco to the net. The I.V. offense continually put the ball into the attack area of Henley. With no subs, the Lady Cougars faded in the end, and the Hornets scored 5 more goals to win 10-0. Velasco had 3 saves.
Noted Brown, “Kelly Duncan and Kieran Rose played good soccer today; our keepers played well. But the thing I was most encouraged about was their improvement on putting the ball in the opponent’s attack area. They did it about seven or eight times.”
Accountability issues, an injury to Jamie Sowell and other absences kept the Cougar numbers to 10 against the Hidden Valley Mustangs in Murphy on Saturday, Oct. 10. HV suited up 24 girls.
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Tausaga played in the net during the first half and had 12 saves on 20 shots on goal— a 60-percent average which showed her improvement from her time in net in the Henley game.
“Laurissa has played very well in goal and has showed her versatility and her athletic ability,” said Brown. The score at the half was HV 8 – I.V. 0.
Jessyka Smith played goalie in the second half and gave up one goal and had two saves. The Cougar defense played tough and only gave up three shots on goal in the second half. Final score: HV 9 – Illinois Valley 0.
Said Brown, “Carrie Snyder and Kieran Rose never stopped hustling; Marisol Sanchez’s footwork was awesome and Kristen Vidales played good consistent soccer.
“But today we improved on putting at least five or so passing strings together; that was nice to see,” Brown concluded.
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