Girls Soccer Mid-Season Recap

 

Mid-Prairie Girls soccer is off to a hot start after their opening game loss to Iowa City Liberty. You could see that it had been awhile since the girls had played a game. It was all Liberty in the first half, storming to a 5-0 lead. Things started to click in the second half and the Golden Hawks were able to match Liberty 1-1 to end the game 6-1. The lone goal came from a Penalty Kick by Kailtin Martin. Ever since that 2nd half, the Golden Hawks had started to look like themselves again, rattling off 3 straight wins with the scores of 10-0, 6-1 and 6-1, combining for a total of 22-2 goal differential. 

In the 10-0-win vs Monticello, 6 different players scored, led by Esther Hughes with 4. Kaitlin Martin 2 goals (2 assist), Katrina Curtiss 1 goal, Paityn Jennings 1 goal, Sophie Baker 1 goal, and Kina Miller 1 goal. The defense led by Evelyn Gerber pitched its first shut -out of the season. The defense didn’t allow the panthers to challenge senior goalie Emily Swartzentruber too often. The Golden Hawks scored 9 goals in the first half and ended the game ten minutes into the 2nd half. 

The first home game this year wasn’t even played at home. Mid-Prairie is combined with Hillcrest Academy and played there for the first time in program history. It was a good experience for the 4 Hillcrest girls on the team. Mid-Prairie was able to come away with the 6-1 win over Tipton. The Golden Hawks again shared the wealth as 5 different girls scored a goal. Goals by: Sophie Baker 1, Esther Hughes 2, Kaitlin Martin 1 goal 1, Katrina Curtiss 1, and Lorelei Lueck 1. 

The next game was on the road at CVC/Alburnett. With a slow start in the first half, the game was tied 1-1. The only goal was in the first half coming from a Penalty Kick by Kaitlin Martin. Mid-Prairie wasn’t ready for the physicality of CVC and had trouble controlling the ball and the middle of the field. The team discussed the importance of stepping up and being more aggressive, which the Golden hawks did in the 2nd half. The Golden Hawks scored 4 goals in 5 fives minutes. Esther Hughes accounted for 3 of those goals and ended the game with her second 4 goal performance of the season. Sophie Baker was the other goal during that span, with a shot that bounced off the crossbar and in. That was Sophie’s 3rd goal in the past 3 games. Kaitlin Martin has been solid on offense scoring at least 1 goal in the first 4 games of the season. 

The 3 game win streak came to an end when Mid-Prairie played their first home game at the Wellman Rotary soccer complex against Solon on a very cold night.  Solon handed Mid-Prairie their second loss of the season 2-0. Solon was very physical and controlled the middle of the field for most of the game. Mid-Prairie couldn’t get anything going offensively, as Solon corralled every attempt to break away by Mid-Prairie. They stopped Mid-Prairie’s attacks early and didn’t allow Esther Hughes to get loose. Mid-Prairie’s defense played pretty well and didn’t allow Solon too many shots in the box. The defensive back three of Evelyn Gerber, Lilou Beachy, and Eva Marner did a good job staying in front and not letting Solon get loose.  Evelyn Gerber who has controlled the defense all season stopped a lot of their attacks and even saved a goal attempt. Emily Swartzentruber (goalie) played really well as she was aggressive and won a lot of balls in the box. She ended up with 11 saves on the night. Most of Solon’s attempts were on the ground and Emily was able to secure them. Solon’s center midfielder controlled the middle of the field and kept playing balls back in. She scored on two shots from outside the 18, that were put into good spots just out of the reach of Mid-Prairies goalie. 

With back to back games in very cold weather, Mid-Prairie got back to their winning ways with a road win at Anamosa. Mid-Prairie came away with a 5-2 win, after being down 2-0 early in the game. Mid-Prairie came out sluggish and you could tell that this was their 3rd game in 5 days. Playing the night before against a very physical Solon team in the cold, put a toll on the bodies of Mid-Prairie. Evelyn Gerber got the Golden Hawks on the board with a free kick from outside the 18. This gave the Golden Hawks the spark they needed going into the 2nd half. Down 2-1, almost half way through the 2nd half, Mid-Prairie again looked to Esther Hughes to get the offense rolling. Esther Hughes snuck 2 goals past the Anamosa keeper to take the 3-2 lead. Sophie Baker put the game way in the final 5 mins by scoring 2 goals to end the game. 

Mid-Prairie is now sitting at 4-2 on the season, with their next game home against Northeast Goose Lake on Friday.

Article submitted by Coach Justin Barthelman.