Early Mistakes Sink Girls’ Soccer

The Exeter girls’ soccer team faced a tough opponent in St. Paul’s last Saturday afternoon. The team played hard and put up a strong fight, but the SPS squad simply managed to get the upper hand. The game closed with a modest score of 1-0, and while the team left the field dejected, the girls are determined to work harder and to bounce back from this game.

Big Red began the game with a bit of a slow start. The team had some trouble getting into their groove during the first few minutes and continued to struggle to fend off St. Paul’s offensive siege for the remainder of the half. “We came out to a slow start on defense, allowing them to slip in behind us and score an early goal,” upper Hannah Gustafson said. “We played the great majority of the game from behind which was mentally challenging.”

“Even though we had lots of opportunities, we weren’t able to score.”

Exeter was demoralized by the goal, which greatly affected their performance in the first half. However, the team put the goal behind them after the half-time whistle blew and came back out onto the field for an excellent second half. Gustafson said that the girls “played very well” during the final 45 minutes, and that the team’s “work ethic was tremendous.” “We never gave up. We fought for the equalizer until the last second,” she said.

While the girls were unable to secure a goal to tie the game, their ferocious play certainly helped to keep the game level and prevented St. Paul’s from slotting in another goal. The Exeter team also upped their offense during the second half, and managed to put up a couple of great shots that just barely missed the mark.

“The ball was primarily in their end and we had lots of opportunities on goal,” upper Grace Pratt said. “If we had pressured as well as we did in the second half of the game during the first half, I think the game would've gone differently. Also, even though we had lots of opportunities, we weren’t able to score.”

Pratt and Gustafson, along with senior and captain Jacie Lemos, performed very well throughout the entire game, with Pratt helping to break apart a number of fast breaks from the St. Paul’s squad. “She performed very well,” Gustafson said. “She used her speed to her advantage to take the ball away from the strong strikers of St. Paul’s.”

Despite the girls’ incredible efforts, the score still read 1-0 when the final whistle sounded. The loss was tough for the entire team, especially after such a grueling battle for an equalizer. “The hardest moment of the game had to be when the ref blew the final whistle,” Gustafson said. “We gave our all into the game and not coming out with even a tie was definitely upsetting.”