By PAUL DELANEY
Staff Reporter
One rugged stretch of Medical Lake's girls' soccer season is now behind the team and another awaits as the Cardinals close out the regular season portion of the Great Northern League schedule.
And despite winning just twice in the last seven games, their coach is pretty happy with what he has seen and what lies ahead. “The way we're playing I think we're definitely picking up our game and getting stronger towards the end of the year,” coach Zane Higgins said.
The 1-0 shootout win last Thursday in Clarkston stopped a three game losing streak – one a non-leaguer against Lakeside – and Higgins hopes better prepares his Cardinals for their last four games against the top teams in the GNL.
“Four games in six days. It was a tough week,” Higgins said of the stretch that included three straight shutout losses (3-0 to Lakeside, 4-0 to Colville and 4-0 to Pullman) before the Clarkston win that evened their GNL record at 5-5, one point back of Deer Park who they faced at home this past Tuesday. Thursday the Cards travel to Pullman to meet the second-place Greyhounds.
But that last contest is one that had Higgins liking what he saw. “I was extremely happy with how we played,” he said. “The first part of the game didn't offer a whole lot of scoring opportunities,” he said, but things opened up in the second 40 minutes and beyond.
“We were putting a lot of pressure on them,” Higgins said. “We were really unfortunate not to get a goal. We had several great opportunities to score.” So that ultimately left Medical Lake with having to not only play a pair of 5-minute overtimes, but engage the Bantams in a tense shootout as well.
“They (Clarkston) shot first,” Higgins said. “Their girl hit a nice shot to the corner. It was going in and (keeper) Natalie (Pendell) kind of came out of nowhere and just made a spectacular save on their very first shot. That kind of set the tone for the rest.” The second shot went high and third was a save, Higgins said.
Lindsey Campbell and Jenny Smith scored the decisive goals for the Cards. “We went two shots without a miss,” Higgins said. “The shots were nearly perfect as the keeper never got a hand on them,” he said.
A day earlier Medical Lake hosted Pullman in a game that was rescheduled from Sept. 29 due to illness. The Cardinals trailed just 1-0 after the first 40 minutes which prompted Higgins to say, “That could have easily been our best half of the season.” Hannah Adams and Niina Al-Hassan each had a goal and assist for the Greyhounds.
The week began with a trip to Colville to play a team the Cards handled 3-0 earlier in the season. But that was with having forward Tasha Luu being kept in check by Medical Lake's defense.
Luu's pair of first half goals, one a penalty kick, staked the Indians to a 2-0 first half lead. Then, Higgins said, Medical Lake had a pair of unfortunate breaks in the second half that lead to Colville goals.
One shot bounced in off a Medical Lake player while the other Pendell had but Higgins said was knocked – illegally perhaps – out of her hands. Higgins said the way it's supposed to go is, “Once the keeper has it that's it.”
This week's games, while tough assignments, are ones Higgins seems to think are definitely winnable. Even at Pullman. Higgins said the way they played the last time against the Greyhounds, “It will give us a little confidence.”
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com
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