By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
AURORA, Ore.– The North Marion Girls Soccer team came out of the halftime break with energy and intensity.
Down 4-1 to Mollala entering the second half, within six minutes the Huskies cut the deficit down to one with two Penalty Kick goals by Paige Comerford that made it 4-3 with plenty of time left in the ball game.
It capped a hat trick day for the senior midfielder to start the season.
“It showed from the starting half of the team that we were the attacking team and that we were the aggressor. We saw a vision of what we should be looking like,” said North Marion Head Coach Ben Bosner.
With some new faces on the pitch, in the backline especially points Bosner of his team, it was a good test of what will be required of them filling the void by those who had graduated this past year’s 4A State Semi-Final squad.
“They’re really untested right now,” said Bosner of the new players. “But they’re gaining experience, and you’re seeing some good things out there right now. It’s just growing from there.”
The difference in Tuesday’s 6-4 home defeat came coming out the 60th minute water break where Mollala came out energized and took full advantage of a momentary lull of energy by the Huskies to extend their lead to 6-3 with goals in the 60th and 63rd minutes respectively.
That outburst by Mollala neutralized the Huskies momentum that they built, and though the North Marion offense got a goal back, it wasn’t enough to reignite the momentum that they had to start the half.
But they’ll get plenty of opportunity to improve and get better against some quality opponents. Marist, Valley Catholic, Canby, and OES to close out the preseason. All State Championship-caliber squads will challenge the Huskies and force them to improve and learn in a hurry before entering Oregon West Conference play on September 25.
“I told them that every team we’re playing are a potential State Champion going forward through the preseason. We got to keep our heads up and keep getting better regardless of the result. We got to learn how to get better each game no matter the outcome,” said Bosner.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
