Written by Russ Hodges, Sports Editor
MENDOTA — With the wind howling throughout the first half, the Rochelle Lady Habs varsity soccer team fought admirably to keep the Mendota Trojans off the scoreboard Tuesday night, giving the purple and white team its first win of the season. I headed out onto the field.
The Trojans held the ball for most of the first half, but Rochelle was able to fend off Mendota's barrage of attacks. The Lady Habs remained tied scoreless with the Trojans at halftime thanks to strong shooting from senior goaltender Danica Ward, who made several tough saves throughout the first half. However, Mendota managed to break through in the second half, scoring two goals while shutting down Rochelle's attack, earning a 2-0 victory over the Lady Habs.
“I think we're doing pretty well this season considering we have a very young team,” head coach Brad Marais said. “Some of the girls are playing in an unfamiliar area, but I'm really glad we were able to finish the first half without conceding a goal. There are still things we need to work on, but I think we're making good progress.”
Rochelle (0-3, 0-0 Interstate 8) was battling not only the wind but also injury issues Tuesday. That's because the Lady Habs played without three girls, including third-year midfielder Emma Kenney and sophomore defender Abby Bozinovic. Despite the lack of players, Rochelle fought valiantly in the first half to keep the Trojans off the scoreboard, with his senior goaltender Ward making a number of clutch saves and playing through a brief injury of his own. remained in the
“hoping [Dani] We can continue to move forward and play like we did today,” Marais said. “She took a lot of balls out of the net for us, so I think our defenders can work with her better and get all the balls on the same page. Hopefully, we can work together better.”
After many close calls in front of Rochelle's goal, Mendota broke through with his first goal of the game in the 51st minute, firing a right-footed shot from the Trojans' frontline into Ward's outstretched hand. It crossed the line and was sucked into the goal. Immediately after that, Mendota pounced on a through ball from the front and the Trojans beat Rochelle on the last line, scoring in the 62nd minute to take a two-goal lead and the game ended.
The Lady Habs had the wind at their back in the second half, but Rochelle was unable to find a consistent attack as the Mendota defense quickly cleared and stole the ball from the young Lady Habs offense. Junior midfielder Makayla Lara took two strong shots on goal late in the second half, but the Trojans were able to block both attempts.
“We're dealing with some injuries at the moment, but we're hoping that we can all get back healthy and have more continuity at the top,” Marais said. “We have a lot of freshmen on our team and we hope they continue to progress as much as they have because they are the future of our program.”
