What a couple of days of excellent high-level high school sports. If you don’t like what you saw this last Tuesday and Wednesday at the Bruins soccer field, then you don’t like sports.
In a scene that was the exact opposite of the boy’s playoff Tuesday, the Lady Bruins walked out onto the field on Wednesday afternoon under a cloudy sky and misty weather. The 5-3 Lady Honkers walked onto the field with a definite game plan to put in place.
The Lady Bruins were calm and cool as usual, but were taken out of their game early as Lakeview refused to let Lady Bruin striker Avana Pettus have an unchallenged moment. They also played a well disciplined off-side trap throughout the match. The Bruins struggled to solve the riddle of the well disguised soft off-side trap and were stopped by excellent goalkeeping by Lakeview when they did break through.
The Lady Bruins seemed to be lured into a false sense of security when senior Anna Serna #17 raced past her defender on the right side of the penalty box and fired a blistering shot into the right corner of the goal just 10 minutes into the first half. At that point, it seemed to be business as usual, but the Lady Honkers defense stiffened and adjusted to the Lady Bruin attack.
The Serna goal seemed to take the Lady Honkers by surprise and inspired them play a more physical game. They attacked the Lady Bruins relentlessly, pushing the Lady Bruins off the ball, challenging any less than perfect passes or traps, and forced the Lady Bruins out of their shell. The Lady Bruins stepped up their game, showing the determination that drove them to an undefeated season.
Lady Bruin Senior Mickey Fulton playing middle fullback, was a beast on defense, cleaning up defensive mistakes all game long. The Lady Honkers had speed on their team, both defensively and offensively and they pressed the Lady Bruin off-side trap continuously with more success as the game went on. Fulton repeatedly swept these attacks to the edges from sideline to sideline, however, Lakeview did get through before the half. Lakeview pushed a ball past Lady Bruin keeper 25 minutes into the first half after slipping through the defense at the top of the penalty box. The score would hold 1-1 into the half-time break.
Coach Kyla Siri’s Lady Bruins started the second half with a clearly different attitude and took the game pace to Lakeview from the whistle. Again the Lady Bruins attacked the right side of the Lady Honker defense, dumping the ball to the outside and letting senior Sandra Sullivan #12 gather the ball and press the right side of the Lakeview defense to make a mistake. That is exactly what happened, as Sullivan drove the sideline, her excellent ball skills pushed the ball past the defender and Sullivan beat the defense to ball at the top of the penalty box. She ripped a low hard shot into the bottom right corner of the goal, shocking Lakeview, and putting the Lady Bruins up 2-1 just 12 minutes into the second half.
The remainder of the second half proved to be a battle of wills. The Bruins continued to try to break the Lady Honker off-side trap that shortened the field and forced the game to be played in close quarters. The Lady Bruins defense held strong as sophomore defender Lexi Schofield #14 stopped repeated attacks to the right side of the Brookings-Harbor defense. But again, relying solely on a trap defense exposes large areas of the open field to attack, and the Lady Honkers got their mistake with less than 2 minutes in the game. A pass over the trap and a race to the ball that Lakeview took full advantage of. The Lakeview forward beat the Lady Bruins to the ball just outside of the goal box, taking the shot and tying the game 2-2 with literally seconds left, sending the match into an overtime situation.
The overtime session was literally an extra 20 minutes of an excellent game. The Lady Bruins were determined, and Lakeview was relentless. But, with just minutes left in the first 10 minute overtime period, a frustrated and tenacious Lady Bruin striker Avana Pettus #10 found herself alone for a moment, with the ball 22 yards from the goal. As a panicked Lakeview keeper tried to close the gap, Pettus reached back and pounded a left footed shot out of reach of the keeper that found the goal just inside the post. The Bruins found themselves up 3-2 with less than 2 minutes in the first overtime period.
The next ten minute overtime period was a tense, tough battle as a now desperate Lakeview team fought for their post-season lives. However, the Lady Bruins were not to be denied on this day, and after holding off the Lakeview Lady Honkers, the Lady Bruins punched their ticket to the next round.
The Lady Bruins will move on in post-season play taking their show on the road traveling to Portland this Saturday to face a tough 6-1 Oregon Episcopal Lady Aardvark team on their home field. The OSAA #3 ranked Lady Aardvarks are coming off a one-sided 11-1 trouncing of the Dayton Lady Pirates. Saturdays game time is yet to be determined.
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