Jackrabbits fall in OT to Cashmere

QUINCY — It took 87 minutes for a goal to be scored in Thursday’s Caribou Trail League match between Cashmere and Quincy, as the Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the second overtime to take down the Jackrabbits.

“They came in, their focus was to control the game,” Quincy coach Patricia Romero said. “I think that it was pretty obvious that they were controlling the game — I told them at the end of the game, ‘That’s just how soccer is. You win some, you lose some.’”

Just before the game would’ve had to be decided via penalty kicks, Cashmere junior Ginny Pruitt broke through the Jackrabbit defense and took a shot in the 87th minute, Cashmere’s first shot of the second overtime period, which hit the back of the net for a goal.

Quincy had a chance to take a 1-0 lead in the second half, but a missed penalty kick by the Jacks in the 66th minute saw the game tied at zero for the remainder of regulation.

Attacks on the Cashmere net were largely unsuccessful, as the Bulldog defense was able to break up Quincy’s passes in front of the net throughout the game.

“It’s something that we’ve talked about, once they’re in the 18 (yard line) they just need to shoot,” Romero said. “Sometimes I think they want to pass to their teammates and give them an opportunity, but we’ve talked about it. We had some good shots, our attackers did really well up top, our mids helped, our wingers helped on the side.”

Cashmere came out strong in the first half, controlling the ball and limiting Quincy’s shots on the goal. Quincy responded in the final 20 minutes of the half, even coming close to a goal after back-to-back corner kicks taken by senior Michelle Acevedo.

Tied at the break, Romero said the Quincy used the time to strategize among themselves.

“We always say that we’re the coaches, but it’s their team at the end of the day,” Romero said. “We always give them time to reflect on the first half, give them the last five minutes to talk as a team.”

Quincy freshman goalkeeper Aylen Garcia recorded multiple highlight saves throughout regulation, including a diving save towards the end of the first half and saving the ball from a scrum in front of the Jackrabbit net in second-half stoppage time.

“(Garcia) brings a lot to the team,” Romero said. “Just having her back there, having her voice back there really directing our girls — she is a key player on our team.”

Romero said the takeaway from Thursday’s contest is keeping the team-first mindset.

“When they control the team, they have success as a team,” Romero said. “This is a team sport, not one person. That’s a takeaway that we’re going to have for the rest of the season.”

After Saturday’s non-league game against Kiona-Benton, the 7-3 Jacks host Brewster at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

“Our ladies are resilient, we’ve seen that,” Romero said. “At the end of this loss, I noticed that they have that fire in them. They’re always going to bounce back.”

Box score

Bulldogs 0-0-1 1

Jackrabbits 0-0-0 0