LONGMONT — With their girls soccer game being on the first Monday back from spring break, both the Silver Creek Raptors and Holy Family Tigers showed some sloppy moments at times on the pitch.
A five-minute flurry from Class 4A No. 8 Silver Creek in the second half proved to be the difference for it to collect a 3-2 win on the Raptors’ home field for their fourth win of the season.
“I think we did really well, especially coming back from break,” Silver Creek’s Alexa Karsel said. “We didn’t have a lot of time to practice over break, so I think we did a good job coming back.
“We just had to give ourselves a good pep talk. At halftime, we talked about what we did good and what we need to work on. I think we fixed it pretty fast.”
Karsel, who scored the first goal of the game, started the dominant flurry at the 50-minute mark when she was on the receiving end of a pass from Kate Eggen in open space. The junior drilled a shot past the goalkeeper for her second goal of the game to put the Raptors back on top 2-1.
“We have a lot of chemistry,” Karsel said. “I play club soccer with most of the girls, and I have been playing a long time with them, too. We have a lot of great chemistry.”
Seconds after Karsel’s goal, Silver Creek got the ball back from Holy Family and went on the attack. This time, Karsel was on the passing end to Annalise Teasdale, who found the back of the net for another goal and a 3-1 advantage.
The flurry in the second half came because of the play in the midfield, according to Silver Creek coach Rob Johnson.
“We talked to our two center midfielders, Kate Eggen and Annalise Teasdale, at halftime and told them to dominate the middle of the field,” Johnson said. “We felt they were the two best center midfielders out there for both teams. All of the sudden, they ran the middle and that’s how we got those opportunities.”
Frustrations began to show for Holy Family, 4A’s No. 6-ranked squad, following the two-goal spurt as the Tigers struggled to maintain possession and generate scoring opportunities to get back in the game. Being just the second game of the season made it a challenge for the team to handle the adversity they felt for the first time this season, coach Michelle Griego-Giron said.
“I think we got a little frantic,” Griego-Giron said. “Finding that composure is always hard, especially early in the season. You seem to find it as the season goes on playing in tight games. Having that game time experience I think is going to help us.”
Griego-Giron did see her team find some scoring chances in the final few minutes to try and find their own rally to tie. A couple of shots were off the mark or saved until Jaelen Giron beat a defender one-on-one and put the ball in the goal with 46 seconds remaining.
The late goal, along with the hard-fought goal off a turnover by Jules Geneser in the first half, is what Holy Family will look to build on with a schedule that will be busy returning from break.
“They were settling the ball and possessing it a bit,” Griego-Giron said. “That helped us. We’ll build off of that and look forward to Wednesday.”
Brandon Boles: bboles@prairiemountainmedia.com or twitter.com/BrandonBoles
Silver Creek 3, Holy Family 2
At Silver Creek High School
HOLY FAMILY (1-1) 1 1 — 2
Goals (assists) —Holy Family: Jules Geneser 21st minute, Jaelen Giron 79th minute; Silver Creek: Alexa Karsel (Annalise Teasdale) 17th minute, Alexa Karsel (Kate Eggen) 50th minute, Annalise Teasdale (Alexa Karsel) 51st minute.
Goalies (Min-Goals allowed-Saves) — Holy Family: Sally Napierkowski (80-3-10); Silver Creek: Natalie Schauer (80-2-5).
