Girls soccer wraps up league with third-place finish

The Lady Outlaws soccer team lost 2-1 at home against Cottage Grove (CG) on Wednesday, October 28, in their final game of the season, to finish third in league.

It was a very intense and hard-fought game. Two yellow cards and one red card were issued because of extreme physical play.

"The refs did an excellent job of keeping tabs on the contact," said Coach Nik Goertzen.

Cottage Grove scored on a corner kick in the 32nd minute and at the half held a 1-0 lead over the Lady Outlaws.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, Marin Allen scored to tie the game 1-1. Jodie Reoch made a beautiful pass to Allen who punched it in for the goal.

Goertzen said, "It was a beautiful shot with just the right amount of power. The ball went right up and over the keeper's head."

Unfortunately, just eight minutes later, at the 63-minute mark, the Lady Lions made a fluke shot to score.

"I'd describe it as a blooper goal," said Goertzen. "CG kicked the ball past Sarah Small (goalie) and it was heading to the goal. Amity (Calvin) saved it and kicked it up and over her head backwards. It deflected off a CG player and went in."

The goal pushed CG to a 2-1 advantage.

Sisters had the momentum the final 17 minutes of the game but just couldn't score. The Lady Outlaws hit balls at the keeper both left and right but were unable to finish.

"We outshot them 9-2 in those last minutes and definitely had the opportunity," said Goertzen. "We just couldn't capitalize."

Two days earlier, despite horrible field conditions, the Outlaws shut out Creswell 7-0 on the road. The weather was very cold and nasty, with rains that pelted down horizontally.

"We were lucky to escape without injury," said Goertzen. "It was a slop fest. Kids were slipping and sliding and falling down all over the place, but we did what we needed to do to get the job done."

Allen scored a hat trick in the game to lead the Outlaws to victory.

Allen said, "The defense just played great today and did a good job getting the ball out and up to the forwards. Loryn (Cummins), Lauren (Chauncey) and Zoe (McAllister) all had great wide open passes to me that helped me with my finishes."

Amity Calvin, Mindy Marr and Jodie Reoch also scored one goal each.

Sisters finished league play at 8-4 and was set to play Junction City on Monday, November 2, to see who will advance as the No. 2 seed in the playoffs. This is the first time Sisters has qualified for state two years in a row.