The girls’ soccer team had barely even started their game Tuesday, April 11, when junior forward Payton McCallister outmaneuvered her Jefferson City opponents to score the first of two goals. RBHS went on to beat the Jays in a 2-1 home game. Junior defender Paige Lafferty is proud of her team’s win and looks forward to improving even more.
“At the start of the game we came out with intensity and were able to get those 2 early goals because of the quick pressure we put on their defense,” Lafferty said. “Jeff City had started out with a very defensive based strategy, and I think one of our strengths was being able to adjust to that. If anything, I think we need to work on keeping up our intensity throughout both halves.”
Similarly to Lafferty, senior defender Sydni Heavin recognizes the lack of energy the girls had in the second half. Although the dip in activity didn’t cost them the win, they did give up a point to Jefferson City. In addition to engagement levels, the game also presented specific difficulties.
“There were three challenging parts to yesterday’s game. The first was that we were impaired by injuries. Some of us aren’t able to play to our full ability right now and others aren’t able to play at all. The second was that the Jays had some very fast defenders, all of whom were pretty aggressive with fouls,” Heavin said. “The third problem that I noticed was their offense attacked as a unit, and they had two very tall girls who they tried to get headers off of. If the mids were unable to get back in time, our defense was swamped with multiple players.”
Coming off of an overtime loss on Saturday, the players clearly wanted to make a strong comeback. Sophomore midfielder Beni Adelstein believes their defeat last game resulted from a couple of hurdles, of which they were able to overcome on Tuesday.
“A lot of our players are still recovering from injuries and our team was a little tired after playing two games the past weekend so it was nice to see us get the win even with the injuries and fatigue,” Adelstein said.
The team’s next game is at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 15. The girls will play away against Battle high school. Heavin is optimistic about the upcoming match.
“Overall, I think we’re a really great team. When we all get engaged together we make incredible plays and we become really tough to take down,” Heavin said. “I’m excited for the rest of the season and feel confident going into every game ahead of us.”