Head coach Brian Carlson and his Lady Bruin varsity girls soccer team began their 2021 season last Thursday at South Umpqua with a decisive 7-0 win and went into their first homegame of the season Tuesday afternoon against a 1-0 Sutherlin Lady Bulldog team, themselves coming off of a 15-0 opening game win against Coquille/Myrtle Point.
Both teams came into the contest confident, and mother nature leveled the playing field. In what at times could be considered torrential, rain was a major factor on the soaked and flooded pitch.
Ball control was difficult at best, and passing and speed became important parts of Tuesdays game. BHHS sophomore forward Zoe Carlson #11 started all scoring when she put the ball behind the Lady Bulldog keeper just 7 minutes into the game.
The Lady Bulldogs increased their pressure and used their speedy center forward to stretch out the field, opening up areas to set up their offense. But Brookings junior forward Hannah James #5 had other ideas scoring for the Lady Bruins 21 minutes into the half, putting the Lady Bruins up 2-0.
Sutherlin’s freshman center forward, Paige Edmonson #4 controlled the ball and broke away to put the Lady Bulldogs on the board 2-1 at the half.
In the second half the weather continued and both teams fought for control in the middle of the field until the Lady Bruins worked the ball to the edge of penalty box and sophomore Zoe Carlson #11 struck again from outside, putting the Lady Bruins up 3-1 at the 54th minute. The Lady Bruins then had junior Hannah James #5 break away and get the ball past a sliding Sutherlin keeper stretching the Lady Bruins lead to 4-1.
The Lady Bulldogs were not done yet and began to test the Lady Bruin off side trap, and the speed of Sutherlin’s freshman Paige Edmonson #4 paid off as she broke the trap an quickly got behind the defense and scored making the score 4-2. Edmonson would go on to score a hat-trick, putting the ball in the net again minutes later closing the score to 4-3 with just over 10:00 minutes to play.
The Lady Bruins would with stand the Lady Bulldog’s relentless attack in the final minutes, taking the 4-3 win and advancing to 2-0. After the game head coach Brian Carlson said ” I thought that both teams really battled today and there were big momentum changes in the second half.” he told the Compass. ” ” Our defense had to step up at the end to preserve win,” he went on to say, “I’m really proud of how the girls fought until the end. We’ll take what learned from this game, continue working to improve.”
