Othello Soccer wins one loses one on the pitch
Bob Barrett photo - Othello's Gracie Sorensen (9) is unable to get her foot on the ball before the Wapato goalie wraps it up. Sorensen was able to get the game winner past the keeper late in the match.
Freshman Gracie Sorenson scored a late goal to break a 1-1 tie and Othello picked up a nonleague win over Wapato Tuesday evening Sept. 12.
The Wolves went up 1-0 in the 17th minute of action off a direct kick by Cynthia Torres who slipped a shot past the Huskies keeper.
“We committed a hard foul just outside the 18 yard box and Torres shot it near post. Our wall was not set and our goalie was in the wrong spot,” coach Bernie Garza said. “But we answered right back on a counter attack with Rilee Heist dribbling down the middle. She sent a through ball to Ebany Guzman who ran stride for stride with the defender and got a shot off inside the 6-yard box for the tie.”
Late in the second half Kylie Ashton eluded two defenders in the right corner of the field and crossed the ball in front of the goalie box to Sorenson who blasted the game winner past the Wapato keeper at the 70th minute.
“I was really pleased with our defensive staff except for that one mistake in the first half that cost us a goal. But we will learn from that,” Garza said. “We look to be solid on defense with seniors captain Sammy Garza on the left, central defender Senior Lidia Rodriguez, right defender Kaiden Quigley, junior sweeper Kayla Guzman whom all held Wapato to four shots on goal. Junior keeper Giselle Monroy had three saves in the game.”
The fuss was a relatively low scoring affair, but both teams had chance to blow the match wide open.
“We had lots of scoring opportunities but could not take advantage of them…we need to work on finishing our shots this week at practice,” Garza said. “After losing nine starters from last year’s league championship team it may seem like this is a rebuilding year, but we have other goals. We are going to be contenders for in the league and be in the playoffs. We just have to find the right combination of players and finished our scoring chances.”
The Huskies finished the match with 14 shots on frame. The Wolves keeper Bianca Gonzalez recorded 10 saves. Wapato’s Cynthia Torres suffered a concussion late in the second half of the game and had to carried off the field.
Ephrata 8
Othello 0
The Huskies suffered a lopsided 8-0 loss on the road in Ephrata Saturday.
The Tigers, who recorded four goals in each half of action look to be one of the top teams in the CWAC this season.
“They are a very good passing team and when they are in front of the goal they finish well,” coach Bernie Garza said. “Most of their goals were well executed set up plays with great finishes in front of the goal.”
Garza said the team didn’t “play horrible” but that Ephrata was on its “A game all game long.”
“We had key players missing for this game and had forward Kylie Ashton go down early in the second half with an ankle injury,” Garza said. “It seemed like we were chasing the ball all game long and when we got it we gave it back to them. We will learn from this and use it as motivation to work harder at practice for the next games to come.”
Othello (1-1) matched up with the Wildcats for another non-league contest in Toppenish Tuesday, but the results were not available by time of press.