Schuyler women's soccer shakes off the rust with victory over Crete

Schuyler women's soccer hosted Crete in their home opener on April 2nd. The Warriors took the field for the first time since March 16 after two games were postponed.

The Warriors scored first, but Crete hit back with an equalizing goal just before halftime. After regaining his legs under them, Schuyler scored three goals in the second half to win 4-1.

“He felt better than expected after not playing for two weeks,” Skyler head coach Clarissa Eroge said. “We didn't have the pressure and aggressiveness that you're used to seeing in international games, but they had very good possession and did a great job of keeping control of the ball. For the most part, we played well. Looked.”

Schuyler took the lead in the fifth minute with a goal from junior Irene Angell. His junior scored on a cross in front of the goal from senior Maribel Gonzalez.

Crete had a shot in the 21st minute when junior goalkeeper Natalie Fuentes charged from the goal line to stop the shot, but the ball reached the back of the goal and scored a goal.

In the second half, Schuyler took full advantage of the tailwind.

Warriors junior Aliza Arroyo hit two shots from 40 yards to go and sailed past the Cardinals' goalie for her second goal in four minutes.

Arroyo's opening goal in the 49th minute bounced off the Cretan goalkeeper's fingertips and crossed the goal line. In the 53rd minute, Arroyo took a shot from a similar distance, but it bounced off the crossbar and the goalkeeper and cracked the goal line.

“My coaches always tell me to shoot the ball. When the wind is blowing, you have to shoot the ball,” Arroyo said. “That goes for everyone on the team. We all can shoot, so we tell everyone to shoot the ball.”

Schuyler's fourth goal of the game came on a corner kick in the 69th minute. Arroyo served the ball into the box, the ball bounced off a number of players and ended up in the six-yard box. Junior Gabby Rodriguez's touch slipped past the Crete goalie and scored.

“We were very good at passing wide and holding onto the ball. Our defense just stepped it up,” Arroyo said. “It's really great to see everything coming together right now and playing as a team the way it should. I think we did well there.”

Arroyo said the team competed against each other during layoffs and in scrimmage-like situations. She said the team did a good job in growing leading up to the game.

“You can definitely tell we were rusty, but last practice we told ourselves we weren't playing, and we need to get back to that,” Arroyo said. “We've been preparing for it. Once we got used to the game again, we got it. I thought it was pretty good.”

The Warriors are still learning with a new defense and goaltender. Fuentes made diving and sliding saves in the second half to deny Crete any scoring opportunities.

“We're still figuring out how to make that happen,” Eroge said. “We were trying to play a flat back four and they didn’t quite understand it yet so we went back to the diamond, just with Natalie (Fuentes) in that back position. Just because we can do it, it seems to work better for us.'' We put out powerhouse stuff.

“We're working on our side, our knowledge of the game and pulling and filling in spaces when there's no one on our side. Our mark-up is getting better, but that's been our shortcoming. But as each game goes on, they understand.'' We are pursuing that more and honing our skills. ”

Schuyler improved to 4-1 with a 2-1 win against Seward on Thursday. The Warriors won the game with Rodriguez's two points.

Arroyo expressed his confidence in the team this season with the return of the core players that advanced to the Central Conference championship game last season.

“This team came into the season telling ourselves we can do it. We're going to do better than last year,” Arroyo said. “Our goal is just to improve on last year. To be honest, we're trying to beat ourselves last year. We're fighting against ourselves. Just try to do better than last year. I’m just doing it.”

Schuyler had his biggest start of the season on Tuesday at Lincoln Lutheran/Raymond Central.

After clinching the No. 1 seed, the Warriors will face Aurora in the Central Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday. If he wins Thursday, Schuyler will play in seven games in nine days from April 9-18.

“I think just being able to play against a team at their level is going to be a big help for them,” Eroge said. “They did a pretty good job of passing and connecting (April 2nd), but I think if they can play against a comparable team, their skills will develop even more and we can go even further. ”

The Warriors suffered their first two losses of the season last week. On April 2, the Cardinals scored all three points in the second half and lost 3-0 against Crete.

On Saturday, Schuyler lost 5-1 to Kearney in its first Class A opponent in eight years. Sophomore David Arciga scored his fourth goal of the season with an assist from senior Jose Cruz.

Schuyler dropped his record to 4 wins and 2 losses. After Tuesday's game at LLRC, the Warriors will host Lakeview on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Central Conference Tournament.

He also earned the No. 1 seed. If they win Thursday, the Warriors will play in the tournament semifinals and the championship or third-place game on Saturday at Wilderness Park in Columbus.