Oskaloosa Falls To Grinnell

by Jodi Steinlage

The girls’ soccer team was in action last night in the 1st round of regional against the Grinnell Tigers. It was has become a common theme for the Indians throughout the season, they played hard and dominated long stretches of the game, but came up just short in a score of 3-2. The loss ends the season of Oskaloosa with a record of 7-10.

The girls came out ready to play, but 2 mistakes would find the Indians down 2-0 midway through the 1st half. “The girls were doing a lot of things right, but a bad clearance and stab quickly led to a 2 goal deficit for us. However, the girls never quit fighting and that is what I love about this team. They always kept playing.” With just over 5 minutes left in the 1st half, Kirby Nelson would find the back of the net off a pass from Aleeya Cheney to cut the deficit in half and with just under 30 seconds left. Emily Grahek would finish off a pass from Nelson to even the score.

“We were pretty happy with how the girls came roaring back the last part of the 1st half to make it a whole new game. We told them at half that we needed to keep pushing.”

The 2nd half would find numerous chances for the Indians, but none would find the back of the net and Grinnell would put one away with 20 minutes left in the game. That score would remain despite the best efforts of the girls.

“Obviously we didn’t want to end the season this way, but we fought to the end and were proud with how the girls came out and competed and matched the physicality of Grinnell. This season had a lot of ups and downs, but one thing for sure is the girls always were able to fight back and never gave up and for that I am grateful. We lose 7 amazing Seniors, but have a lot of young talent coming back that were able to get valuable minutes moving forward. Thanks to everyone who supported us throughout the season and we are already looking forward to next year!”