By Dan Angell
For the Daily Journal
CLAYTON
As her team took the pitch for its Class A regional semifinal match at Cascade, Greenwood Christian girls soccer coach Christina Hunter knew the Cougars’ chances hinged on getting the first goal.
Without the luxury of substitutions, Hunter knew the Cougars would have their hands full trying to slow down Cascade’s speedy forward pair of Kaylin Cook and Creedance Chittenden on the Cadets’ artificial surface. With that being the case, the Cougars’ only choice was to try to push early, trying to get control of the match before the Cadets could.
But an early mistake proved fatal when the Cougars lost track of Cook in the 11th minute and the senior knocked the ball home, giving the Cadets the edge that GCA could not overcome. Despite GCA keeper Ellie Bigelow choking off several Cascade runs at the goal, the Cougars could not get even, eventually conceding Grace Franklin’s insurance marker in the 57th minute and ending their season with a 2-0 loss on Wednesday night.
“We played we best that we can,” Hunter said. “Turf is always tricky for us, and we had zero subs in a game where they could sub freely, which hurt us a little bit. The girls gave it their all, but we couldn’t break through that goal.”
GCA’s problems after Cook’s goal were magnified when the Cougars (6-10-1) found themselves facing a new defensive look from Cascade (12-6-1). Knowing that he had the fresher and deeper side, Cascade coach Jeff Franklin left his three attackers in charge of the offense and had defender Sydney Gabbard and midfielder Lauren Guetig clog the middle, forcing GCA to use the entire width of the pitch to try to even the match.
The strategy worked, as the Cougars had to adjust on the fly to finding a path to an equalizer, burning precious energy in the process.
“We came out with a really good intensity, and that kind of unsettled (GCA),” Gabbard said. “We did a really good job staying together and working with our midfield.”
The Cougars did get a few chances to level the match, notably Adeline Jolley’s effort in front of the net in the 50th minute. But each time, the effort to get through the Cadets left the Cougars only one shooting path — straight into the arms of Cascade keeper Gabby Walker.
“We tried to generate some more offense by putting Izzy (Cameron) and Adeline up front, which is a great tandem for us typically,” Hunter said. “But at that point, they had six defenders and put two holding mids that didn’t go anywhere, so they just barricaded them. Adeline and Izzy still did a really good job getting to the ball, but in transition, we really struggled.”
Despite the end of their season, the Cougars left the pitch in positive spirits. Even though they’d faced a deeper and faster opponent in their first trip to the regional, Hunter was pleased that her team had given a credible showing.
“We finished better than anyone expected,” Hunter said. “This was a rebuilding season as it was for the boys this year, so we’ll just continue to keep progressing.”
