Soccer team remains undefeated

The girls soccer team logged an emphatic 6-0 shutout over league foe Cottage Grove on Tuesday, October 12, and made a definitive statement that they are the No. 1 team in the league. Two days later Sisters shut out the Hawks 8-0 at La Pine.

The powerful on-the-road performances pushed the Outlaws to an 8-0 record in league and 11-0 overall.

Earlier in the season the Outlaws had narrowly beaten Cottage Grove 2-1 and in the rematch on Tuesday, the Lady Outlaws wanted to make it clearly known they were the better team.

Coach Nik Goertzen said, "My girls absolutely wanted this and we really took it to them. I'm so proud of all my players I could almost bawl my head off."

Forward Jodie Reoch had an extraordinary performance and recorded five of the six Outlaws goals.

Reoch got Sisters rolling at the four-minute mark. Marin Allen made a perfect entry pass to Reoch, who took the ball at full speed and knocked it in to the left of the keeper.

Eight minutes later it happened again. Again, Allen and Reoch had a perfect exchange and Reoch scored to put the Outlaws up 2-0.

"It was a great read and pass by Marin (Allen) and a great finish by Jodie," said Goertzen.

Just four minutes before the half, Allen kicked the ball with her left foot and sent the ball up and over the keeper's head to the far post for the score.

At the half Sisters held the Lady Lions scoreless at 3-0.

"We were feeling really good about ourselves at the half," stated Goertzen. "We changed up our lineup a bit to give us a different look to throw them off. All week we'd talked about making changes so they'd (CG) have to adjust to us. We wanted to be the aggressors."

Reoch scored her third goal for a hat trick 14 minutes into the second half.

It was evident at that point that the Lions had completely gotten the wind knocked out of their sails.

At the 67-minute mark, Reoch tallied an unassisted goal and extended Sisters' lead to 5-0. Four minutes before the whistle blew, Reoch scored her fifth and final goal off a Michelle Young assist. Young intercepted the ball in the middle and dished it off to Jodie. With beautiful reads and angle runs, Jodie took it into the goal and put the game out of reach at 6-0.

Goertzen had trouble finding words to express how proud he was of his team.

"These girls have worked so hard to get to this point," he said. "I can't say enough how proud I am of them. We have had so many people doubt us and we haven't gotten the respect we deserve. The girls have been dedicated to this team and the program, and over the last four years we've slowly put the pieces together. Now, it's finally paying off and it's absolutely astounding!"

Of her five goals, Reoch said, "Truthfully, nothing feels better than to score against Cottage Grove, but to score five felt amazing. I could never have done it though without our tough defense in the back clearing the ball up to give us forwards a chance to score. Also, the midfield did a great job controlling the ball in the middle. For the first time I was not afraid to take the defense on or take a shot, and that really made the difference."

Two days later Sisters notched its sixth shutout in league, with their 8-0 win over La Pine.

The Outlaws scored at the four-minute mark with a corner kick from Kelly Cole to Lauryn Chauncey for the finish. Eight minutes later Jodie Reoch put one in thanks to a Marin Allen assist. Allen made an unassisted goal at the 36-minute mark and at the half Sisters held a 3-0 lead.

Fourteen minutes into the second half Natalie Ambrose had a beautiful through pass to Harley Bowler, who knocked it in for the goal, and gave Sisters a 4-0 advantage.

From that point on, Reoch went on a scoring frenzy and put in four additional goals for the Outlaws to secure the 8-0 win. Two of Reoch's goals were unassisted, and Michelle Young and Cole each recorded an assist.

The Lady Outlaws will play at Sweet Home on Thursday, October 21, and finish up league play in a special game at Reed Stadium against Elmira on Wednesday, October 27 (see related story, page 19). Game time is 6 p.m. and there will be a special admittance price of $2. Seniors will be honored. The team hopes to pack the house as they wrap up their incredible season.