MTZ girls soccer goes 1-1 last week
By BLAKE FAITH
Staff Writer
The Mt. Zion girls soccer team went 1-1 last week with a win against Eisenhower/Macarthur and a loss against Mattoon.
Against Eisenhower/Macarthur, the Braves were contained for the first 16 minutes due to goalkeeper Ashely Browning making six saves in the opening minutes. The Braves opened the scoring when Kendall Allen made a pass to Sydney Howerton who struck and scored from outside the 20-yard line and from the crossbar into the goal.
Howerton went on to score her second goal of the match off a rebound goal and then in the 23rd minute, McKeznie Krieger found Allen who netted the goal and gave the Braves a 3-0 lead.
Krieger then scored two goals of her own within a few minutes apart. The first one was Paityn Koester passed it to Krieger and Meisgse shot the shot that went off of Browning’s hands and into the back of the net. Seconds later, Krieger netted a top-shelf goal that gave the Braves a 5-0 lead.
The Braves kept up the pressure and Broanimg considered making saves needing up with 19 in the game. With six minutes left in the first half Chloe Kuncl scored a goal of her own to give the Braves a 6-0 leD.
Maddie Kendall then kept the attack going for the Braves and was trying to net a goal of her own before half as Browning either made the save or Kendall shot it just inches near the goal. Then with 5.2 seconds left in the half, Kendall netted a goal off the left-sidebar that gave the Braves a 7-0 lead going into halftime.
“We played well, I thought we came out a little sluggish, but then we picked it up and we played well,” Head Coach Jonathan Moore said. We were really working on trying to find some feet and possess the ball today. We love to see different girls getting involved and trying out some different positions and getting something out of it. Getting chances that they normally don’t get.”
Kendall would make an assist to Koester for a goal that finished the Braves 8-0 win.
The Braves improved to 9-8 overall and 3-4 in Apollo Conference play. The Braves will face Champaign Centennial in their final match of the regular season.
“I hope both of those games will prepare us for regionals because they’re two good teams and hopefully we can compete and be right there with them,” Coach Moore said.
