SEYMOUR
Trinity Lutheran’s girls soccer team gave Providence all it could handle for over 62 minutes during Monday night’s match on the Cougars’ field.
The teams battled 0-0 until the Pioneers received a goal from Carlie Miller at 16:57 of the second half to take a 1-0 lead.
“They did everything I hoped they would,” Cougars coach Thom Hayes said of his defense. “They did get a goal in on us, and then I thought I would move things around a little bit and try to get some offense, and we were gassed and that’s where things kind of fell apart and they got two quick goals.
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“We probably could have finished 1-0, but with our history with this team I don’t like a loss, but a 3-0 loss is not something for us to hang our heads on.”
Avery Stumler scored at 5:27, and Miller added a second goal with 3:39 remaining as the Pioneers improved to 1-0-1.
Trinity goalie Genesis Munoz made a save on a strong attack by the Pioneers at 26:12 of the first half.
The Cougars were unable to get a shot until Emma Goecker attempted to score on a long kick from in front of the goal with 5:08 left in the first half.
The score remained 0-0 at the half.
The Pioneers had three strong attacks in the first 12 minutes of the second half with one ball sailing over the net, Munoz made an excellent save on a shot, and another attack was wide of the net.
Trinity only had two shots on goal for the night with the second coming off the right foot of Sarah Lemming with 31:30 left in the match that was wide right of the net.
“I like our passing,” Hayes said. “We did really well on passing. Today in particular, which we won’t see against other opponents, two of our players will be able to push on offense that they weren’t able to today, so we’ll get more numbers if we’re not on our heels the whole game.”
Hayes said his team was short-handed on offense as one of the players he is counting on to be a scorer was in an automobile accident over the weekend and was unable to play.
The Cougars’ will host Milan Thursday afternoon.
Hayes said during practice today and Wednesday, “We need to make sure that everyone knows our defensive scheme so that if I do want to make changes we can still keep our same strategy going so we’re going to work on that, moving players around so that everyone learns all the positions and we get a little more flexibility.
“Other than that we’re just going to keep working on our ball control. It’s still early in the season so hopefully we’re work on our endurance.”