Indians Claim Victory Over Chariton

by Jodi Steinlage

The Oskaloosa Girls’ soccer team started their 2018 season with a 5-2 victory over Chariton. Just like all the other Spring sports, trying to find a decent day to practice has been hard to come by coupled with the soccer fields being closed for a large part of our pre-season, the girls were excited to finally get outside and play.

The Indians wasted little time in starting off their season when Aleeya Cheney scored on a pass from Emily Lunsford only 39 seconds into the contest. The Indians would continue to dominate much of the 1st half and found the net 2 more times with goals from Brooke Engelhardt and Mary Nelson (assist Kinsey Cook). They would go into halftime with a 3-1 lead.

“We were very pleased with how the girls came out and played in the 1st half. With this only being our 4th time outside, we weren’t sure what it was going to look like as practicing in the gym only gives you small glimpses into what we could look like on the field.”

The 2nd half would find the Indians a little flat footed to start and after giving up a goal to bring the score to 3-2, the Indians once again found their footing and finished the game controlling the tempo and game which led to two more goals by Cheney and Nelson (assist Cheney).

“Overall we were very happy with the way girls played and continued to battle. We lost our concentration for the early part of the 2nd half which led to a 2nd goal. However, I am happy with how the girls refocused and played our game plan which led to two more goals and putting the game out of reach. We still have lots to work on and to continue to get into game shape, but this was a great first step of our ultimate goal of earning a berth to State in June.”

Stats:

Kinsey Cook: 4 shots (2 on goal); 1 assist
Brooke Engelhardt: 2 shots (1 on goal); 1 goal
Emily Lunsford: 1 shot; 1 assist
Aleeya Cheney: 8 shots (5 on goal); 2 goal, 1 assist
Mary Nelson: 4 shots (2 on goal); 2 goals, 1 assist
Kirby Nelson: 1 shot
Emily Richmond: 1 shot
Emily Simon: 1 shot

Maddy Crile: 2 saves (2 goals against)