Putnam senior Makenzie Maier will go down as the thorn in the Eagles’ side this season. The senior forward scored twice in her team’s 3-1 win over HRV at the beginning of the season and twice more Saturday night, in the 5A varsity girls soccer quarterfinals, to seal the win for the No. 1 ranked Kingsmen and knock the Eagles out of the state bracket.
The 2-0 loss was a tough one for the visiting Eagles, who lost key players Sophie Grace and Mona Diaz to injury in the first half. Despite the calamity, however, the Eagles fought to a 0-0 tie through the first half and held the Kingsmen scoreless for part of the second until Maier was able to get on the board with the go-ahead and then safety goals.
Coach Kevin Haspela offered the following account of the game via e-mail:
“At the start of the game we were assessing their offensive threat. We had heard a lot about their star senior forward Makenzie Maier. She had been prolific this season for Putnam and scored twice on us (one on a penalty kick and one by getting past our defenders) in our first game of the season. Jenissa Ramirez and Sophie Grace, the anchors of the HRV defense, were keeping close tabs on her. Less than ten minutes into the game, Sophie came out with what appears to be a broken wrist and could not play for the rest of the game. I shifted Mona Diaz back from midfield to Sophie’s position; ten minutes later, Mona also came out with an unfortunate season-ending knee injury. Neither incident involved fouls or anything malicious, but the girls were obviously rattled after that. Despite these challenges, we were tied 0-0 at halftime.
“Rex Putnam was fast, physical and passed well. We spent a lot of time in transition during the game and didn’t find our rhythm on attack. It was the little things that made the difference for Putnam. They performed consistently the entire game and were the stronger team on defense with denying our attack and in the midfield possessing and moving the ball.
“The team talked at halftime about overcoming adversity and how 2-3 passes at midfield will allow us to get on the attack. We created some more quality chances in the second half and possessed better, but our penetrating passes were a bit strong on the turf, our steps to the ball were not as fast as they needed to be and our give-and-go passes were not as sharp. These are the little things that allow a team to control the ball and move up the field as a team.
“Hats off to Vanessa Silva in goal making 12 saves through the night and to the team for playing with confidence and courage despite adversity. The girls gave all they had and should be proud of their effort.
“I am proud of the team’s steady improvement. To come this far after being ranked No. 33 (last in 5A) in September says something about this team’s grit, determination and belief in its abilities. The girls know they can play with the best teams in the state and are looking forward to making an even deeper run into the state playoffs next season. We lose five seniors, but will return a talented group of tenured players.”
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