Quincy girls take second victory in league play

The Quincy High School girls soccer team on Tuesday took its fifth overall victory in a league match against Omak.

But even though it was the clear victor, Quincy has a few things to work on.

The Jacks took the game with a score of 4-1 and head coach Francisco Tafoya said it went well overall. Senior Sheridan Donovan had two goals, sophomore Michelle Acevedo had one and junior Brianna Herrera had one.

Despite the victory over conference contender Omak, Tafoya said his team had some slip ups in its performance during the game.

“Right off the bat, in the first 10 minutes, we had maybe about five clear goal scoring opportunities. We just lacked in our finishing,” said Tafoya.

He added a lot of lack was in the missed goals.

“It was to the point where you saw just jaw-dropping misses,” Tafoya said.

The ball was shot over the top and way off to the side, even when players had a clear line of shot and plenty of space from opponents, explained Tafoya.

He attributed the lack of finishing to pressure during the game, which resulted in players rushing their shots, or the opposite, taking too much time, allowing defenders to get too close.

Many varsity players were absent from the game for a variety of reasons, Tafoya said, including standout Emily Wurl. He said it was nice to see the players who did play take on the attitude the absences weren’t going to hinder them during the game. Every player who went to the game got at least 10 minutes of playing time, Tafoya said.

The Jacks’ next game is against Cashmere on Thursday, a matchup that has Tafoya worried. “It’s going to really be tough (to win the league title).” Tafoya said. “It’s going to really depend on the game against Cashmere and they’re a very competitive team this year, probably even more than last year.”

He said the team’s chemistry is what makes it such a force to be reckoned with. The group of seniors on this year’s team for Cashmere has been playing soccer together since they were very young, giving them the advantage of building a bond not all teams are able to have. Tafoya also said the Cashmere girls are very talented and have a lot of speed up top.

Each league contender is played against twice during the season so the Jacks will play again Oct. 14 at Cashmere.

As of Wednesday, Quincy’s overall record was 5-2-1 and it is 2-1 in the Caribou Trail League. Its only league loss was to Chelan 3-5. Tafoya said the girls were having an off day and did not perform to the best of their ability. He said he is confident the second matchup against Chelan Oct. 26 will go much better for the Jacks.

Rebecca Pettingill can be reached via email at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com.