Dogies take a win

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
  
The Dogies finished up their 2021 season on Saturday the right way, picking up their first win of the season against the former No. 1-seeded Bearcats in Douglas. The ‘Cats left the field with their hackles up, but the Dogies kept their cool and were rewarded with celebrating the end of their rebuilding year the best way possible.
“It was a really fun way to end the season,” smiled head coach Elyse Dickey. “Every game we’ve gotten better and we’ve worked hard in practice, and we were finally able to put everything together which is just so great.”
The contest was a defensive battle, however the Dogies possessed the ball for a good portion of the game. They took five on-target shots on goal as well as several that went over the goal or were just a little off the mark. 
The Bearcats took their share of shots as well. Goalkeeper Hayden Overman finished the contest with 18 saves, several of which were tough shots by Douglas.
“When we were possessing, we overall did a pretty good job of keeping the ball on their end of the field, which was nice to give our defense a bit of a break,” Dickey said. “Hayden had a really good game, though, and it has just worked out really well for us to have him protecting the goal.” 
The Dogies went into the half feeling confident as they had held the Bearcats scoreless throughout. Though they themselves had yet to score, having an even playing field on the scoreboard did a lot to bolster the players’ spirits as they took the pitch for the second half of play.
The squad has had a tendency to let down a bit in the second frame, however Dickey stated that the players addressed the issue during their halftime conference and she was pleased to see that this time that letdown didn’t happen. 
“Their attitudes have changed a lot since the beginning of the season, and it was really great to see them take the initiative to talk themselves up during the break and to make the decision to keep working and playing hard,” she began. “They fueled themselves, which was cool to see. I just said to keep doing what we were doing, and that something would eventually go in for us.” 
The Dogies held the Bearcats out of the net for the rest of regulation, heading into overtime for, not only the first time this season, but also the first time for many of the players on the pitch.
“Half of the guys were wondering how overtime worked and how much time we played, so the first thing we needed to do was line that out,” Dickey chuckled. “So we just told them again to keep playing like we had been, and it had been kind of a chippy game so we also told them to stay calm, keep their focus on the game and things would fall in line.”
Douglas was undefeated in the conference until they lost to Riverton on Friday, so at that point they were not in a good mood, but the coaches were able to keep their players focused on the game and not on any distractions that were happening on and off the field.
The first 10-minute overtime ended with zeroes still on the scoreboard, and with just 1:58 left to play in the second OT the Dogies took a shot that ricocheted off the goal post. Aidan Chick was able to corral the ball and turned to take another shot then was taken out by a Bearcat which resulted in a penalty kick inside the box.
Chick lined up and took a finesse shot, kept it low and kicked it almost right at the goalie. However, the Bearcat keeper expected a shot to the side of the net and dove away from the ball thereby allowing the Dogies to go up 1-0 with short time to play.
“The boys were so excited, but then were able to rein themselves in and focus on the remaining time,” Dickey said. “It was awesome to see them play to win that game, rather than playing not to lose.”
Dayton McFarlin was able to get off another shot in the waning moments, but in the process, several players collided and the Bearcat goalie went down. Rather than subbing in another goalie, Douglas opted to put an 11th player on the field and attempted to blitz the Dogies in the hope of evening the score again.
“They threw everything they had at us,” Dickey confirmed. “There was no defense, no goalie, just all 11 pushing at us. I think they got off one shot during that time, because we did a good job of possessing and playing to feet to finish it out. Getting that win was just the best,” Dickey said. “The girls were still there so they rushed the field and the boys came in quick and then ran off to their parents. After a challenging season, it was a great way to end.”
The Dogies had been building throughout the year, and scores were getting closer, so to get the win was just what the squad needed as they look to next year. This was just the second loss for Douglas in the conference all season, so that was another feather the Dogies could put in their hats as their season came to a close.
“It was a building year, and we made steps each week to improve, and finishing with a win was super cool,” Dickey said. “I loved to see their attitude change throughout the season as well. They got progressively more positive and started to believe in themselves, and took it upon themselves to build themselves up. Hearing them talk to each other about some of the lessons we’d been teaching them was really good to hear and see.”
The Dogies bid adieu to three seniors — Gavin Gray, McFarlin and Kalen Koch — so Dickey will need to replace two defenders and a midfielder. 
“They are big shoes to fill, but we have some good underclassmen who have the potential to step up in those positions,” she anticipated. “Hopefully next year we can take off where we left off
this year.”