Girls JV soccer wraps up stellar season

The girls JV soccer squad wrapped up their stellar season with a home victory over Sweet Home to finish undefeated in league at 8-0.

Sisters' only loss was to Summit in pre-season play.

Over the course of the season the Lady Outlaws scored 63 goals and only allowed six goals to be scored against them in league. Senior Jenni Ortega and freshman Dani Rudinsky were top scorers, with 14 goals each and senior KC Dolson with 13 goals.

Sisters only had 10 solid players for the season, and at times had only nine. Each game proved to be a challenge, and Coach Kristy Swan had to confer with the opposing coach and athletic director and ask if their team would play down to nine or ten, whatever Sisters had for that particular game. Much of the time opponents played the same amount of players but there were occasions where the Outlaws did have to play a man down.

Freshman Cierra Mann took care of duties at the keeper position for the majority of the time, and senior KC Dolson played at forward. Covering the midfield were Jenni Ortega, Dani Rudinsky, senior Sabitri Dolson, and sophomore Kristen Sanders.

Defensive players were Lotte Hansen, an exchange student from Denmark, senior Claire Henson, junior Meghan Connolly, and freshman Aydee Pachuca.

Swan shared a couple of highlights from the extraordinary season:

"At our home game against La Pine, Dani Rudinsky had a beautiful corner kick that went straight into the top far corner. She had perfect placement and no one touched the ball."

In the Outlaws' final game against Sweet Home, Jenni Ortega's penalty kick (PK) stood out.

"Jenni missed a PK and because the kick went over the goal, Sweet Home took a goal kick," said Swan. "Jenni intercepted the pass and plowed through four or five defenders and scored! As she would say, she redeemed herself. She powered through a miss and picked her head up and was present enough to plow through and score. It showed such mental toughness."

Swan told The Nugget that the entire season proved to be a very big challenge. The players had to play without substitutes, learn to switch at any moment and play a different position, if for no other reason than to allow players to catch their breath. They endured adverse weather, and played through pain because there wasn't a player on the bench to offer relief.

"At Junction City it was so hot, in the 90s, and it was just brutal," said Swan. "It was so humid and hot we modified the game to 30-minute halves. Without any subs it proved to be a very mental game for the girls. I was so proud of them. They powered through for a good game. And it was like that all season. They never got frustrated and never complained about anything. They were always willing to work hard no matter what the circumstances were."

Swan told The Nugget that her team is a very strong group of players with senior leadership that pushed them to excel. "They all played their hearts out," stated Swan. "They all wanted to play and were passionate about the game. Any opportunity, even if we had to play down, they never complained. They were always just happy to play."

This was Swan's first year coaching the Outlaws and she admitted she really didn't know what she was walking into but told The Nugget she couldn't have hand-picked a better group of girls. Swan plans to return next year as coach.

"It's definitely been a challenge for me as well, but a definite highlight of my life so far," said Swan. "My goal is to be a teacher and a coach at the high-school level. This year was a definite high and I would love nothing more than to be a part of the Outlaws' soccer program."