Ephrata girls soccer team wins first match of the season
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin HeraldOthello's Rilee Heist (14) battles Ephrata midfielder Kendall Kemp (9) for a ball during second-half action Saturday in their non-league match. Ephrata won 8-0.
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin Herald Ephrata striker Mya Spencer (2) gets a head on the ball during a corner kick in the second half of Saturday's match with Othello.
EPHRATA — Tiger striker Corinna Cole knew her 15 seconds of glory started the second the ball left Amidy Gallagher’s foot.
“It was perfect. I knew I had to get it,” she said following Ephrata’s 8-nil win over Othello in non-league action Saturday afternoon.
Gallagher, who had a hat trick of assists, pushed the ball down the right wing and sent the crosser over Huskies goalkeeper Audisey Sauceda’s outstretched arms. Cole slipped in on the weak side and put the perfect header into an empty net with a tremendous display of athletic talent.
“It seemed like it was in slow motion when Amidy crossed that ball. I knew this was my chance,” Cole said, the smile never leaving her face. “It’s not easy to time a header. You want to angle it and not get too high. You have to be in the right place. It felt great, it was like did I just do that?”
It was the goal of the match on a day where the Tigers (1-2) scored four in the first half and closed things out with the Cole header in the second half to win their first match of the season.
“With the formation that we have and how we’re building our runs. But Othello was giving us more opportunities than to just run up the sidelines and cross the ball in,” Ephrata head coach Hillary Coomes said. “We’re trying to be a little bit more dynamic in the way we attack. The game plan was to read what they’re giving us, instead of staying with a preconceived plan. I was allowing them to read what the defense was doing and plan their run accordingly.”
The Tigers out-shot the Huskies 16-2 and ended up scoring four goals in each half. McCall DeChenne, Courtney Richardson, Katelyn Ostrowski and Kendall Kemp had the first-half goals. Kemp, Mya Spencer and Richardson scored in the second half and they finished them off with the goal of the game, Cole’s header with 2:33 remaining in the match.
“Othello is a really physical team, so learning how to play with that was important,” Spencer said. “It’s just me up top, so I expect teams to be more physical with me. I thought we had better runs today on offense than we did earlier in the week (Cashmere). Coach is giving us more freedom to make our own decisions on the field and I think it’s helping the program.”
Othello (1-1) put just two shots on goal, but challenged the Tigers with a physical brand of ball with several solid runs through the Ephrata defense.
Tigers freshman goalkeeper Renessa Cole is settling in net. She was challenged with a constant attack by Cashmere on Thursday and starting to find her range in her first varsity season, she said.
“It’s been a challenge with a lot of pressure on me, being a freshman,” Cole said. “I’ve played in the field my whole career, but just this last year I decided I wanted to try goalie. I’m learning how to maintain the right position and angle on shooters to make it harder for them.”
Ephrata hosts Prosser on Tuesday and Othello travels to Toppenish.
Score by halves
Othello 0 0 - 0
Ephrata 4 4 - 8
E - McCall DeChenne
E - Courtney Richardson
E - Katelyn Ostrowski
E - Kendall Kemp
E - Kemp
E - Mya Spencer
E - Richardson
E - Corinna Cole