After a tough defeat the previous week, the u10 Titans bounced back this week with a strong 4-0 win against Winterset. The Titans girls showed solid improvement across the squad. They maintained offensive pressure for most of the half. Payton Bumgardner scored Carlisle’s first goal with a long shot.Fullbacks Jocelyn Haack, Kate Snyder and Nicole Hintz put up solid defense throughout the first half, turning Winterset plays back into Titans offense with tough ball control. Midfielder Tessa Orput also maneuvered quickly to turn the ball back on offense.
The Titans offense was even stronger in the second half. With an assist from Payton Bumgardner, Sydney Fortelka scored first. Then, Payton followed up with a solo move through Winterset’s defense to score — her second of the day. Forward Emma Brewer had two shots on goal in the second half, and midfielder Mikayla Graham challenged Winterset on both sides of the field. Jocelyn had an outstanding save when Winterset pressed the ball past Titans goalie Emma Paddleford. Carlisle’s last goal came with superb forward speed from Nicole.. She passed to Sydney, who put the ball in the back of the net for her second goal.
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The u10 Thunder Cats played a home match against a SoccerWest squad with another talented force at forward. His bright yellow shoes marked him as the one to watch. In yet another game, the ‘Cats balanced attack tallied 6 goals from two players, including an own-goal by the opponents.
The Thunder Cats withstood an opening two minutes that saw several shots on goalie Hunter Oppedal. The ‘Cats defense of Oppedahl, Samuel Overton and Wyatt Kruse kept the ball out of the net and then the "Cats scored an own-goal when a threatening corner kick by Jack Wilson deflected off a defender and into the goal in the fifth minute. Soccer South would continue to pressure and throughout the day, kept evening the match. Carson True scored off a beautiful pass from Jonathan Kamerick. Then Michael Comstock blasted a shot between the keeper and the near post after some nifty footwork. Carson would get another goal on a blast through the keepers legs and Michael would tally two additional goals on pure hustle. The final score was 6-6, Carlisle, and the opposing coach gave Michael alot of compliments after the game.
The ‘Cats offense continue to produce goals because the boys are disciplined in their spacing and passing game. Throughout this game, the tough-nosed defense of Samuel, Wyatt, Zach Hoagland, Nate Rowray and Jack Wilson managed to out hustle the yellow-shoed forward from Soccer South and force many shots to the outside, thanks in part to the new 2-2-1 formation coaches True and Oppedal introduced for this game.
The U13 Girls CRUSH would travel again to face a tough Newton team. The challenge for the game was the windy conditions and shutting down the Newton forwards known for their accurate shooting. The CRUSH starting strong, dominating possession and putting the Newton defense on its heels. The offense would continually attack the goal, challenging the keeper with every drive. And the CRUSH defense would hold strong, keeping any attacks to a minimum the entire first half. The first goal would come from an aggressive attack up the right side by Kaleigh Haus who delivered a hard cross to Taylor Whipple who put the ball in the back of the net with a nice one-touch shot. The remainder of the half would be all Carlisle, but the Newton keeper stepped up big and the CRUSH went into halftime with only a one-goal lead.
The second half, Newton took on a new strategy. After witnessing the tremendous skill and teamwork of the CRUSH, the Newton coach decided to play an extra defender and force the ball to the offensive side. The strategy seemed to be working as Newton kept the CRUSH attack at bay and continually punched the ball to their offensive end. But every attack by Newton would be snuffed and forced out of bounds by the scrappy CRUSH defense. Then, Newton was awarded a penalty shot from the spot as a CRUSH defender was called for a hand ball in the box. Newton capitalized on the shot and the CRUSH was stunned. If the game ended in a tie it would be a huge upset as the CRUSH was clearly the better team on this day. The Newton coach realized this and added even another defender to try to hold the score to the end. The strategy seemed to work, but with only minutes remaining, the CRUSH was awarded a throw in midfield, wher Katy Rick quickly threw the ball in before the Newton defense could set up. Receiving the throw was a wide open Lindsey Kamerick who saw that the entire Newton defense had shifted to the right side of the field. She made a perfect one-touch pass to the equally wide open Taylor Whipple who drove hard to the goal and put the ball in the upper right corner, beating the keeper. The crowd went wild! With seconds remaining Newton had one more attack, but the CRUSH defense easily pushed them to the outside and cleared the ball to let time expire.
Players of the game were Jessica Payne for consistent aggressive and versatile play, Morgan Fox for outstanding defense and shoulder tackles, and Jade Gibson for aggressive defense and heads up passing.