On Sunday, May 4, Carlisle’s u12 girls Crush faced West Des Moines, a team they defeated earlier this season 3-1, putting their perfect record on the line. West Des Moines was coming off a nice two-game winning streak in which they outscored their opponents 20-3!  It would prove to be the toughest game of the season as the Crush fell behind for the first time this season. The Crush answered with a nice pass off the foot of Lindsey Kamerick to Taylor Whipple who placed the ball into the corner of the net. Then, from a booming drop kick from keeper Maddie Roberts, Whipple won the ball and dribbled it all the way in for the goal. Another Crush goal came from an amazing display of ball control by Katy Rick, who dribbled past four defenders to get the ball in front of the goal and blasted a shot to the back of the net. West Des Moines would answer with two goals of their own to end the half 3-3.

The second half was all West Des Moines’ as they beat the Crush with good ball control and hustle in the mid field. The West Des Moines squad would score five more goals and the Crush, one goal by Rick. With this loss, the Crush fell to 5-1 on the season, but still lead their division and have their sights set on a division championship. The team named Taylor Whipple, Maddie Roberts, Jade Gibson and Victoria Cara as players of the game.

In other action at the Carlisle Soccer Complex, the u8 Pumas were on the prowl, playing their best game of team ball, yet. This team just keeps improving by leaps and bounds every week, just like the weather continues to improve each Sunday. The Pumas are passing the ball to each other to achieve goal-scoring opportunities. Not all of them reach the back of the net but they are attacking the opponent’s goal. The highlights of the game were goals being scored by Megan Sievers, Jocelyn Haack, Wyatt Kruse and Jack Wilson. One of Wilson’s goals was off an assist from Sievers. On the defensive side of the ball, April Jackson, Ashlyn Highland and Zach Hoagland came up with key blocks or clearing passes to move the ball from the opponent’s end of the field. These kids are having a lot of fun learning the game of soccer.  Go PUMAs.