News photo by Owen Kinsey Laurel Alberts (center) kicks the ball during Alpena High School's girls soccer game against Traverse City Central on Thursday in Alpena. The Wildcats lost 1-0 to the Trojans.
ALPENA — The Alpena High School girls soccer team (2-4-1, 0-4 BNC) continued its struggles Thursday against Traverse City Central in the Big North Conference.
After dropping their final three conference games to Gaylord, Cadillac, and Traverse City West, the Trojans defeated the Wildcats by a final score of 1-0.
TCC's ability to constantly hold onto the ball meant AHS had little to no chances to score.
“We didn't have much offense in the first half, and we weren't as dangerous as we thought. We had a hard time getting a feel for the game early on,” Alpena coach Greg Sapiran said. “In the second half, we started to figure out some things and got really good as a team. We started to get more dangerous, make some plays, and we couldn't finish on top. However, I was very happy with how we played.”
The Wildcats started the game with possession, but were quickly stripped of the ball once it entered Trojan territory.
Reese Wisniewski chats with Alpena coach Greg Spillane during a girls soccer game Thursday in Alpena. The Wildcats lost 1-0 to the Traverse City Central Trojans.
The ball rarely crossed the midfield line and Alpena had to play lockdown defense.
Central seemed unable to take advantage of an open net, as the Wildcats held the Trojans scoreless for the first 22 minutes.
Just eight minutes into the game, Taylor Parker started as Alpena's goalie.
Parker dove to the right side and stole the ball while sprawling, keeping the score at 0-0.
Two minutes later she did it again.
News photo by Owen Kinzey Faith Dragiewicz struggles to keep the ball during Thursday's Alpena girls soccer game.
The Trojans continually went for the basket, and Central missed to the left of the goal despite being looked wide open.
Finally, the inevitable happened.
Alpena surrendered the goal to Kylie Ball after a shot from a corner kick.
The Wildcats were just one goal short entering halftime, but the offense will need to hold onto the ball in the second half.
Alpena's second half proved troublesome recently due to early conditioning issues, but the Wildcats showed intensity as they tried to pull off a comeback.
News Photo: Owen Kinzey Reese Wisniewski tried to steal the ball from Traverse City Central players during Thursday's Alpena soccer game.
The offense started to figure some things out and eventually secured some possession with some scoring chances.
The defense improved, but neither team was able to score as the clock ticked down.
Central tried multiple scoring chances again, but like Alpena, they fell short.
In the end, both teams ran out of time to score, and the game ended with just one point difference.
“One goal could have killed us in this game,” said Spillane. “(Traverse City Central) played very fast as a team and we found some things to improve on tonight. It's unfortunate that we gave away a corner kick, but we were able to score a corner kick. I have to respond.”
News photo by Owen Kinzey Sophie Kinzey kicks a ball during Thursday's home soccer game in Alpena.
A soccer invitational tournament will be held tomorrow in Alpena.
News photo by Owen Kinzey Faith Dragjevic struggles to keep possession of the ball during Thursday's Alpena girls soccer game.
