by Niki Cunningham
Sports Editor
ereporter: Bob Nielsen
The Lassen Girls Soccer Team travelled to Yreka on Thursday, looking to maintain an advantage in the season series. They had tied Yreka 0-0 in their first outing, and then beat them at home to start the regular season. However, the Grizzlies had a tough time adjusting to the narrow, crowned football field, and couldn’t get much going during much of the first half. The ball seemed to find its way out of bounds on every other touch.
The Miners played a compact game, taking advantage of their home field’s size, and pressured the ball at every turn. The Lassen Defense did a good job of containing the threat. Goal keeper Hailey Chittock came up with some big saves, including a corner that was bending in towards the back post. However, with one missed coverage, Yreka’s top scorer, Kendall Nielsen, drove one past the goalie to give the Miner’s a 1-0 lead going into halftime.
Lassen started the second half, with a new look, swapping Jordan McCloughan into goal and Chittock up front. The Grizzlies came out of the break fired up, and scored in the first three minutes. Captain Jessica Rorie got the ball across the goal mouth, where Chittock put it in the net to tie the game. Excited and eager to score again, Lassen had quite a few near misses. Shots poured in from all sides, but the Grizzlies were unable to capitalize on their momentum, and Yreka settled back into their swing.
The game remained deadlocked until the last 10 minutes, when Nielsen was able to power through the Lassen defense towards the end line, and get a hard left footed shot between the outstretched defender’s leg and keeper’s hands for the winning goal. Lassen pressured hard to equalize, with a couple of close corner kicks and shots on goal, but they came up short, losing to Yreka 2-1.
They go into their next game 4-2-0 as they face off against a 0-6 Central Valley at Riverside Park on Tuesday at 3:15. They are again tied with Corning for 2nd place behind West Valley in the NAL, with just 4 games left.
