Lady Dogies battle in season opener

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Lady Dogies finally kicked off their 2021 soccer season on March 23, as they traveled through typical soccer weather of rain and snow squalls to take on the Lady Bearcats of Scottsbluff, Neb. New head coach Cami Willyard was happy with how her team played after nearly a two-year hiatus, however the final score found Newcastle down 1-4.
“The weather was challenging so my captains strategically chose wind in our favor in the first half, which was a big advantage,” she explained. “I would say we dominated the first half against a really skilled Scottsbluff team, and that the score didn’t reflect the game that took place on the field.”
With the wind at their backs, the Lady Dogies had possession of the ball for much of the first half, and nine of their 13 shots were taken within those 40 minutes of play. Unfortunately, the ladies were unable to find the back of the net so the two teams went into the mid-game break still tied at 0-0.
“The shots were dangerous opportunities for us, but they just had a really solid back line,” Willyard said. “They played a three-person defense but they were just very good. Their keeper was a freshman but very aggressive, coming out on a lot of balls.”
With two minutes left in the first half, senior Hailey Wehri suffered an injury which sidelined her for the remainder of the contest, so as a result Willyard had to adjust some personnel to fill the center defensive position, which is the core of the back line. 
“We moved Alaina Laurence from center mid-fielder to center back to adjust for the loss of Hailey,” she explained. “Then had to rearrange the center of our mid-field so we had some girls playing in positions they hadn’t practiced so far this year.”
At about 10 minutes into the second half Claire Beastrom made a beautiful cross pass to find Kyah Miller on the back side post and the sophomore finished it for the first score of the contest, putting the Lady Dogies up 1-0. 
“It was Kyah’s first high school game, and she got a goal, which was pretty cool,” Willyard said. “She was pretty excited and so were the girls.” 
Within the first five minutes following the goal, which is crucial in soccer, the Lady Bearcats were able to get one in on a corner kick to even the score. Within another five minutes of that, they broke through the back line for another corner shot to take the 2-1 lead.
“After that we settled in a bit, and were able to create four legitimate scoring opportunities but we couldn’t find the back of the net again,” Willyard sighed. “The girls really did a pretty good job of adjusting to their different positions, but Scottsbluff had the wind at their backs and our back line was playing in an unfamiliar formation.”
Among those taking shots on goal were Claire and Emily Beastrom, Lara Lopez, Sammi Simmons, Gabby McVay and MacKenzie Conzelman. As the Lady Dogies’ keeper, Angel Perez had 16 saves on the day. 
“Scottsbluff is a very solid team who beat Gering 6-0 and Buffalo 8-3,” Willyard noted. “I feel like we gave them a good run for their money and we competed with them at their level, so that was great to see.” 
“For the first game of the year, injury aside, I thought we came out and competed at a very high level,” she continued. “Kudos to my upperclassmen for that. We knew what was going on and it really didn’t look like we skipped last year at all.”
Willyard did note that her team has a few things to tweak position wise, but added that she is quite excited to see how her squad will stack up against Buffalo on Thursday.
“I think this could be the first time in Newcastle soccer history where Buffalo gets beat,” she predicted. “We have the skill set and determination to do it this year.” 
Kick-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. in Buffalo on Thursday and the squad will have their home opener against Gering on Tuesday, April 6, beginning at 4 p.m. at Schoonmaker Field.