Lady Dogies are held off again

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
Victory eluded the Lady Dogies by the slimmest of margins for the second straight contest as the squad met up with the Lady Outlaws of Rawlins in Douglas last Friday. Though head coach Bryce Hoffman’s team once again dominated their opponent, struggles on the offensive end of the field — combined with stellar play by the Outlaws’ goalie — left Newcastle with a 0-1 deficit at the end of the contest. 
“I feel like I keep saying this, so maybe something needs to be fixed, but I feel like we controlled the pace of the game,” Hoffman declared. “For the first 20 minutes, our goalie touched the ball two times and we kept it on their end of the field most of the time.”
According to Hoffman, Rawlins played a counter attacking and direct style of offense which, by its nature, doesn’t afford them many opportunities on goal. Unfortunately for Newcastle, they were able to take advantage of one of those to find the back of the net to take the 1-0 lead 20 minutes into the contest.
“I feel like their goal resulted from a breakdown on our part,” Hoffman sighed. “There was a lack of communication between three of our defensive players, which allowed one of their attackers to get the jump on us and score. We will be repping that situation in practice so it doesn’t repeat itself going forward.”
Hoffman identified three areas where the defense broke down that factored into the goal. Rawlins had sent a through ball into the Lady Dogies’ backfield, and though the defense had a ten yard start to either get the ball clear, or for the goalie to come out and get the ball, or to play to the keeper and have her clear the ball, none of those three things happened because the defense hesitated. The Lady Outlaws used that hesitation to get the first touch on the ball and score.
During the half, Hoffman and his squad addressed the issues that needed to be changed from a team standpoint, and the Lady Dogies came out of the break putting a great deal of pressure on the Outlaws’ defense once again. It was then that Rawlins’ goalkeeper became Newcastle’s nemesis.
“Their goalie made three great, game changing saves from opportunities that we had, and that ended up being the difference in the contest,” Hoffman nodded. “The shots that we had on her would most of the time get past goalies, but she is a tall girl and she just put her team on her back and held us off for the win.”
Claire Beastrom, Lara Lopez and Hailey Wehri were the three who got off well-placed, dangerous shots on goal in the second half, but were thwarted. The Lady Dogies were able to find the back of the net with four minutes remaining, but a questionable off-sides call negated the goal, and time ticked away leaving Newcastle scoreless on the day. 
“That goal was exciting and deflating all at the same time because you think you’ve tied it up, but five seconds later it gets waved off,” Hoffman frowned. “But I told the girls after the game that we just can’t let a late decision by an official decide the outcome. We’ve got to take care of business by putting the ball in the back of the net early so that it’s not an issue late in the game.”
The Lady Dogies head into a big three-contest week, which began with the squad hosting Gering on Tuesday. It is the Friday and Saturday contests that have meaning to the team, however. With the loss against Rawlins, the Lady Dogies have fallen to 0-2 in the conference and are at the bottom along with Torrington. In the race for state qualification, that puts Newcastle in a less than desirable position.
On Friday, the team will head to Buffalo to take on the Bison and will be on the road again on Saturday for a rematch against Douglas. According to Hoffman, the Lady Bison will be a challenge for his squad due to their loaded and talented midfield, but his squad is hungry for a conference win. 
After losing to Douglas 2-3 at home, the team is hoping to flip the outcome and get the win on the Lady Cats’ home field.