Girls continue positive energy on the road

The girls continued their road action on Thursday against the Milwaukie High School Mustangs, where the varsity team lost a disappointing 1-0 match and the junior varsity won 4-2.

In the first half of the varsity game against St. Helens, Justine Bryant scored off a direct kick, and Jessica McMorran scored with an assist from Kayla Loyd. In the second half, Meagan Clark scored off an assist from Jennifer Hanners.

Kaitlin Bauld, Meredeth Danko and Katie Rawson all made saves in goal.

“The girls played well against a physical St. Helens team,” commented coach Joe Kelly.

The team added a change to its roster before the game, with Meagan Clark coming up from the junior varsity team to replace Diana Hernandez, who got hurt during last week’s game against Southridge.

Eagles versus Milwaukie

Much like the boys varsity game against Milwaukie, the Eagles controlled the field for most of the game against a fairly good team. Unfortunately for the girls, the Mustangs, who had three shots on goal during the game, slipped a goal in the net to take the lead.

“We have improved on making quicker passes to the corners behind the defense, partly due to winning more balls in the midfield by being in position ahead of the play instead of having to react to it,” Kelly commented. “The girls are being more aggressive defensively and are not getting off balance and stabbing at the ball. In practice we really work hard on getting used to physical play and staying with a play even after mistakes are made. We are also playing teams that are not as skilled or aggressive as the two teams we started with … We are focusing on bringing positive energy to practice every day and raising everyone’s level of play defensively.”

Next up for the girls is a home game on Sept. 27 against Sam Barlow.