On Tuesday, September 4th, the Lady Bruins and head coach Kyla Siri started their 2019 season and sent a message to the league that this group has set lofty goals, with every intention of meeting them.
On Saturday, September 7th, the Lady Bruins played their second pre-season game of the season against St. Bernard’s from Eureka. A confident Lady Crusader team stepped off the bus, and along with their fans, enjoyed a pre-game calm as if patiently waiting to inevitably mark the win column.
But as the game went on, and 5, 10, 15 minutes went by with no score, you could feel the anxiety rise as the Lady Crusaders realized they were in a game, and this expected win wasn’t going to come easy. As is the case in game situations such as this, frustration sets in, elevates, and as time clicked by, St. Bernard’s became more physical.
It wasn’t until the 19:00 minute mark that #9 freshman Zoe Carlson found the back of the net after battling her way in front of the goal for a right footed shot past the keeper.
From this point on the St. Bernards became even more physical than earlier, not dirty, just finishing off shoulder tackles with purpose. The Lady Bruins did not waiver, and put themselves in position to take advantage of the defensive overplays.
For the second game now, the challenger has the scouting report on senior striker Avana Pettus #10 who again was not allowed to break free. But you are not going to catch Pettus, grab her or hold her every play, and Pettus fought her way to her first goal 31:00 minutes into the first half.
Junior keeper Annie Nation kept a clean sheet into the second half after a 2-0 Lady Bruin 1st half. But it would be an Annie Nation mistake that would get the Crusaders on the board 9:00 minutes into the second half. Nation would inadvertently handle the ball outside the box causing a hand-ball call, setting up a direct free kick at the edge of the penalty box. The Crusaders ran a diversion play causing the wall to break down before the Crusaders #3 pounded the low hard shot past Nation into the right corner making the score 2-1.
Just 10 minutes later Lady Bruin sophomore striker Hannah James broke the Lady Crusader offside trap at half field and outraced the St. Bernard defense to the box before placing a ten yard shot into the upper right corner of the goal extending the Lady Bruin lead to 3-1.
Pettus would be held on a breakaway late in the game and awarded a penalty kick that she calmly placed in the left corner of the goal ending the game with a Lady Bruin 4-1 victory.
After the game Coach Siri said “We knew going into this game that St Bernard’s was going to be a physical team and a good match-up for us. We wanted to see where we were on our passing which has been an emphasis all season for us. I thought the girls moved the ball around the field well playing through each other as a team and settled in and played with composure.”
“They matched any physicality they were handed and really showed they can compete and they don’t let up. Our defense did a great job executing in the back and finding a pass to start our counter attack. Their toughness was fun to watch!” she went on to say.
The Lady Bruins will be on the road for their next preseason contest this Thursday, September 12th, as they travel to US Cellular Fields in Medford to take on the Lakeview Lady Honkers at 3:00pm.
