Indians Fall Short At Pella Christian
by Jodi Steinlage
The girls traveled to Pella Christian last night for their final regular season game. It was a back and forth battle between the two teams, but unfortunately for the Indians PC would prevail in OT for the 3-2 win. The Indians finish the regular season with a 8-7 record and will begin regional play on Thursday
The two teams would battle in the first 20 minutes of the game with neither team scoring, but both having chances. PC would get on the board first and this would ignite a fire within the Indians and the girls would go onto play some of their best soccer for the rest of the half. They would finally get on the board when Mary Nelson would put away a slot pass from Emily Lunsford in the 35th minute. Just over 2 minutes later, Leah VanMaanen would finish off a cross from Aleeya Cheney to take the 2-1 lead into half.
The 2nd half would see much of the same back and forth battle with the Indians having several more opportunities, but nothing finding the net. With 7 minutes left, PC would counter and even up the score where it would remain at the end of regulation time.
The OT would resemble the first 80 minutes until 2 minutes left when PC was able to put away a ball in traffic in the penalty box.
“This game is going to be a hard one to get over as we had long stretches of brilliance. The girls showed what kind of team we can be when we put it all together, but unfortunately PC was able to finish one more opportunity than us. This season we have had to deal with a lot of injuries and moving people around to positions they normally don’t play. It is a domino effect, but we have to deal with it and move on.”
“We are now to the point of win or go home. We have the girls, the ability, and now we need to mentally put it all together. If we do what we are capable of doing, we can make a run at state.”
The girls begin their quest for a berth to state by hosting Chariton tomorrow night with a Varsity only game starting at 6:00 p.m. We would love a huge crowd for our last home game of the year!
Stats:
Ashley Brockman: 1 shot (1 on goal)
Emily Lunsford: 2 shots (1 on goal); 1 assist
Leah VanMaanen: 4 shots (1 on goal); 1 goal
Aleeya Cheney: 4 shots (1 on goal); 1 assist
Mac McCallum: 1 shot
Claire Fiechtner: 1 shot
Mary Nelson: 2 shots (1 on goal); 1 goal
Kinsey Cook: 6 saves
