Ladies pick up a win

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Lady Dogies began last week still looking for their first conference win of the season. On Tuesday, as they headed to Torrington, head coach Bryce Hoffman and his crew were aware of the high stakes that were on the line as the Lady Blazers were also without a victory in the 3A East.
Though the conference season has only hit the midway point, the outcome of this game was huge for post-season qualification, as the winner would walk away with a definite advantage in extending their season a few weeks from now.
The Lady Dogies had been struggling to find their groove following the opening tournament of the season, however this week may be signaling that the team has turned a corner and are headed in the right direction.
“I was very happy over the course of the two games we played last week, because we played some pretty good soccer for sure,” Hoffman exclaimed.
The Lady Dogies got off to a blistering start against Torrington with Lara Lopez putting her team on the board in only the third minute of play. Two minutes later Claire Beastrom found the back of the net to go up 2-0 with only five ticked off the clock.
“We just came out and jumped on them right away,” Hoffman grinned. “We had them reeling and I don’t think they were able to breathe or recover from that.”
Lopez’ goal resulted from the sophomore picking up a pass, dribbling downfield and sending a well-placed ball over the top of the Blazer’s goalkeeper’s hands. Lopez was also instrumental in Beastrom’s goal, as she sent her the pass which set up Claire’s left-footed finish over the keeper’s head as well.
With one minute remaining before the mid-game break, Hailey Wehri found Caitlyn Pehringer who one-touched it, finishing over the goalie once again.
“Going into the half up 3-0 makes you feel a lot better than 2-0,” Hoffman grinned. “That gives you a little more insurance heading into the second half of play.”
Newcastle dominated possession of the ball, giving Torrington only two semi-threatening looks on goal in the first 40 minutes.
“I thought our defense did a great job of limiting their opportunities,” Hoffman nodded. “They didn’t get very many good looks at Angel [Perez] throughout the whole game. She barely touched the ball, because the defense really kept the pressure off of her.”
The second half was more of the same as Newcastle continued to pour on the pressure. Pehringer picked up her second goal of the contest in the 51st minute off of a pass from Madi Pearson, which set her up to finish.
Isabel Frank was able to find the back of the net for the first goal of her varsity career as a Lady Dogie 12 minutes later to extend the lead to five points.
“After Isabel’s goal, we kind of got into a streak where Alaina Laurence was finding gaps to send the ball to any and all of our attacking players,” Hoffman declared. “She was really feeling it from a passing standpoint, and from that center mid position, that’s really important to get into that groove.”
Laurence’s groove enabled her to pick up the assists for the final two Newcastle goals finding Beastrom who finished once again in the 75th minute, and Kassidee Jeppesen who scored two minutes later. Jeppesen has spent her four years as a Lady Dogie in the backfield defending the goal, so this was her first time to score one for her team.
“Because of our situation, we were able to move Kassidee up to forward for a little while, and Alaina did a great job of getting her the ball,” Hoffman grinned. “She’s been doing the dirty work in the back field for a long time, but she’s really versatile and can play anywhere, so it was really awesome that she was able to score.”
Despite the lopsided 7-0 win for the Lady Dogies, Hoffman stressed that game was a battle with the Lady Blazers making his team fight for every point.
“It was definitely a physical game, and they didn’t give anything to us,” he determined. “I think we overwhelmed them a little bit with our speed, but we were in a battle with them all the way up until the end.”
The win moved the Lady Dogies into the fourth spot in the 3A East, and scoring seven goals against the Lady Blazers provided a bit of a cushion should postseason qualification come down to a tie-breaker situation between the two squads. One of the considerations is the number of goals scored against, and right now Newcastle is sitting pretty comfortably with only around nine scored against them while Torrington has had about 25.
The second game of the week was against the Scottsbluff Lady Bearcats. Obviously, the outcome of this contest had no impact on conference standings, however it was important for Newcastle to follow up their successful performance with another one.
“We played hard, and we played gritty, and we fought for every inch,” Hoffman nodded. “Though it didn’t show up on the scoreboard, man I was proud of them with what they did against a decently sized school who usually plays some pretty good soccer. We haven’t played them that close since 2011 so I was just so impressed with the girls.”
Newcastle only ended up with three shots on goal in the contest, and those three came within the first 15 minutes, however according to Hoffman, those shots were legitimate scoring opportunities which were just off-frame.
“It could have been a 2-2 game in my eyes,” he mused. “Just watching film and replaying it in my head, but that’s just not how soccer goes sometimes.”
Hoffman noted that the rookie goalkeeper, Perez, made some great saves and stayed composed against a really talented team which kept the Lady Dogies in the game. Another freshman who proved to be solid in the contest was LaKacee Lipp, who never left the field for the entire contest.
“I was really impressed with both of our starting freshmen,” Hoffman nodded. “They stepped up and did a really nice job for us.”
Scottsbluff finished with a 3-0 lead to take the win, but Hoffman stated that he feels like his team is on the right track and gained some much needed confidence heading into the second half of conference play.
This week, the Lady Dogies face off against the Lady Bison of Buffalo at home on Friday. They were scheduled to travel to Buffalo on Tuesday for a makeup game, however, weather once again deferred that contest. As such, the two will play their second contest on May 7.