by Niki Cunningham
Sports Editor
ereporter: Bob Nielsen
The LHS Girls soccer team was in action again over the weekend in the Winter Classic at the Redding Soccer Park. In their first of three games, the Grizzlies squared off against the Enterprise Hornets, a Division I school. Lassen took control of the first half, With Jenna Monahan scoring from a cross by Captain Jessica Rorie, and a short pass by her sister Chloe Monahan. The Grizzlies played aggressively and controlled the pace of the game, and went into halftime up 1-0. After the half, however, the Hornets answered with a blistering past the outstretched hands of goalie Jordan McCloughan. They followed this with a second goal and held on in a physical contest to win the game, 2-1. McCloughan played an excellent game, with 13 saves to her credit.
In their second game, they came up against another Division I team, the Chico Panthers. The Panthers took immediate control of the game, and never gave it up. Their crisp, accurate passing and deceptive movement off the ball proved to be too much for the Grizzlies to handle. The defense did well to limit the damage, and McCloughan impressed both teams through her many saves and mental toughness, but by halftime the score was 4-0. After the half, with most of Lassen’s Starting offense out with injuries, the scoring continued. When the whistle brought the end to the rain-soaked contest, the 10-0 score was indicative of the Panthers domination.
The Grizzlies returned to the Redding Soccer Park Saturday morning to face off against a former conference foe, University Prep. Coming off a stinging loss, the Grizzlies came out aggressively, stunning U Prep with the control and ball movement at midfield. The forwards had several good opportunities at goal, which ended up in the hands of the U Prep keeper. In the last 10 minutes of the half, however, U Prep was awarded a free kick some 30 yards from the goal. The shot went over the wall into the upper corner at the near post, just over the leaping McCloughan. Once again, Lassen went into halftime with just a 1 point difference in the score. In the second half, Lassen began to show some fatigue of playing 3 games in less than 24 hours. A well placed corner kick was headed in from close range, followed by three more high shots beyond the reach of the Lassen Keeper. McCloughan was excellent on the ground, challenging any loose or through ball aggressively, forcing the U Prep shooters to aim high. The Lassen front line had some excellent opportunities, but just could not capitalize, and the final score was 5-0
Although the Grizzlies did not win a game in the tournament, the Coach Ayers was pleased with the performance of the team, and the experience gained in through this pre-season action. Lassen will be in action again on Tuesday, Dec. 16th at Riverside Park, as they host the Oroville Tigers. They will be looking for to even the score, as they went down 1-0 against the Tigers in Oroville. The Boys play first at 3:15, and the Girls have the evening game, starting at 5:15. This will be their final game until after the Christmas Break.
