JV Cougars lose defensive battle against the Wildcats in OT

The JV Cougars lost a defensive battle in overtime against the Walter Johnson Wildcats Saturday, 4 October 2008. The Wildcats put pressure on our goal, sent a shot off the cross bar and smashed the rebound in for a score with under a minute remaining in overtime. What a heart breaker for our young lady Cougars.

The first half of the game was all defense with limited scoring opportunities for both teams. The Cougars best opportunity came on a cross from the right side in front of the goal where Julia Jones sent a shot just over the cross bar. The Cougars also had 4 corner kicks during the first half, but were unable to capitalize on these set plays.

Defensively, the Cougar ladies played brilliantly. Morgan Dorset, Maddie Crow, Hannah Minkoff and Michaela Peterson had great games and really stymied any Wildcats efforts to shoot on goal. They kept the ball out of the goal area and initiated offensive efforts throughout the first half.

In the second half we were treated to more defensive soccer by both teams. However, in the second half the Cougars needed two absolutely brilliant saves by the keeper, Jessie Wagner, to keep the score 0-0. The Cougars were unable to generate much offense again in the second half with Kayla Hamedi sending a nice 20 yard shot on goal as our best opportunity.

The overtime was more of the same defensively and it was truly unfortunate the Cougars were unable to clear the ball at the end of the game. It was a hard fought game with both teams evenly matched throughout. In the end, the Wildcats walked away with a 0-1 win over our JV Cougars, but our ladies walked away knowing that they played a solid game.

Coach Alison said that this was one of the best teams we have played this season. "The Walter Johnson team really played an aggressive game against us and kept us from ever mounting any consistent attack on goal. We had a few chances, but we really did not get enough pressure on their goal. I was very pleased with the way we controlled our defensive end of the field and I thought our defense played an awesome game. I am extremely proud of the girls as always and know we will rebound from this loss."