SOCCER
By DAN WUSSOW
dwussow@shawmedia.com The Sterling and Oregon girls soccer teams battled through frigid weather and high winds on Saturday morning at Roscoe Eades Stadium, but neither team could take control in the end as they ended in a 0-0 tie after 80 minutes of nonconference play. The Golden Warriors (0-4-1) applied more pressure in the first half, attempting five shots on goal against the Hawks’ two, but they couldn’t quite capitalize, misfiring on the few chances they had due to high winds and Oregon’s stingy defense. Oregon (1-0-1) had at least two opportunities to get on the scoreboard in the first half, but Sterling goalkeeper Rene Garza saved or sent away any balls that got through the first line of defense. On the other side, goalkeeper Taylar Rufer kept the Hawks’ goal secure. “Today, very windy, and on turf, the ball was just moving at speeds that we aren’t used to. But overall, in conditions like this, you just never know what’s going to happen,” Oregon coach Seger Larson said. “So to come out 0-0, we’re going to take what we can from the game. But we play all of our games on grass, so
it’s a lot different for us.” With about 25 minutes to go in the second half, Sterling looked poised to take the lead when a ball bounced out of Rufer’s hands near the right side of the goal and rolled over to the left side. Fortunately for Oregon, Sterling’s offensive players were hanging back and Rufer was able to recover, diving on the ball before it rolled in or was kicked in. The Hawks managed three more attempts on goal in the last 11 minutes, but Garza saved the ones that got through and Sterling’s defense stayed aggressive, foiling all of Oregon’s attempts at a last-minute victory. “They did good. It was a good battle versus Oregon,” Sterling coach Raul Sanchez said. “It was windy, so it was hard because they’re not used to that yet, but they played through it, which, I’m real proud of them.” Larson said the Hawks will continue to work on their communication moving forward. “It showed us one thing that we’ve been going over, a lot of communication. And we just lacked communication the entire game,” he said. “And that’s where some people didn’t know if they should go to the ball, so that stood out for us and we’ll be addressing that again.”
Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@shawmedia.com
Oregon’s Mariah Drake handles the ball against Sterling on Saturday, March 26.
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OGLE COUNTY NEWS Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com • Friday, Apr 1, 2022
Frigid Sterling-Oregon clash ends in scoreless tie
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