‘I don’t care how we score’: Sandy girls soccer gets 3-0 win over Woodburn

Published 9:28 pm Wednesday, September 11, 2024

They might not have always been the prettiest shots, but Sandy girls soccer is celebrating all goals equally.

Two scores on a stormy night against visiting Woodburn were the result of some individual effort plays, with a duo almost willing the ball past the Bulldogs keeper.

Sophomore midfielder Laila Kitchen got the first about 10 minutes into the match. A cross into the box bounced around the defenders, who weren’t able to clear it cleanly. Kitchen slipped in, stuck a foot out and redirected the ball toward the net, ricocheting it off a defender for the first Pioneers goal of the young 2024 season.

Then with 27 minutes left in the contest, sophomore wing Claire Parks got the second Sandy score. It was another loose ball in the Woodburn box. Parks got to it first and headed it high over the charging keeper, almost rainbowing it vertically down for the goal.

“I don’t care how we score, the biggest thing is we put the ball in the back of the net,” said Sandy head coach Greg Pfleger with a smile. “I couldn’t be more proud of the girls for those effort plays — we have to stay resilient and push hard.”

Sandy beat Woodburn 3-0 Wednesday evening, Sept. 11. While those first two goals could be called “ugly,” the third was a thing of beauty — senior defender Dahlia Kappers collected the ball of a poorly cleared corner and fired it on frame.

“We came out a little slow in that first half, and we talked about bringing more energy,” Pfleger said. “This win gives us confidence, but we have a lot of stuff to work on.”

Sandy (1-1) dominated possession against the Bulldogs (0-1), but at times struggled to translate that control into shots on frame. Much of the attacking success came down the right flank, spurred by the quartet of Kappers, junior midfielder Abbigeal Haney, freshman Jill Faris and sophomore forward Alix Flowers.

In the second half, senior Paige Newell had a good stretch up top. With the Pioneers coming out of that stagnant first half, she injected a bit of needed pace, and several promising chances went through her. Newell was nearly rewarded with those effort on the scoresheet — with 35 minutes left in the game she fired a wicked shot that clanged off the post.

“I’m really happy with the players and the talks we had — they changed the way they played and made adjustments tactically,” Pfleger said.

Defensively not much was asked of the Pioneers. The Bulldogs had a few dangerous counteracts, but few shots were generated from those plays. The closest chance came from sophomore Marely Lopez Rodriguez with 5 minutes left in the game. She broke through the defense on a nice through-ball, and fired a shot that was saved by sophomore goalie Hanna Winans.

As a team the Pioneers were able to get different players onto the pitch, emptying the bench and trying out different combinations.

“You never know with high school ball, so when you can get other players in for this kind of experience its huge,” Pfleger said. “These are the minutes where players are going to grow and learn the most.”