By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– The Injury Bug bit the South Salem Girls Soccer team at the most unique time of the year: At the start of it.
With training and games every other day, it was a challenge to get the right kind of momentum going with the pieces they have as they started the season 1-4. The talent was there, and so was the team and hard work. It was a matter of getting the squad healthy and ready to go to achieve their goals of the season.
“The talent is there, the team work is there, the hard work is there. Just putting all the pieces together,” said Saxon Head Coach Jaime Rodriguez.
But through it all, a sliver lining. Their depth got those valuable minutes as they got healthy. Trusting new faces in different positions on the field. And slowly, things are beginning to fall into place for South Salem.
Three wins followed their 1-4 start with wins over Corvallis, West Albany, and Sprague. The 1-0 victory over the Olympians on Tuesday night opened Central Valley Conference play for the Saxons. All three of the victories, too, were shutouts with sophomore goalkeeper Londynn Stewart in net.
“(Stewart) has done a tremendous job for us. Keeping goals out of the back of the net is super important. She’s embraced it with a lot of confidence, and she’s done a tremendous job against some quality size, and I think she’s done a tremendous job,” said Rodriguez.
The trust is growing. So is communication and learning to work together as a united unit.
“We’re learning to work together better, and we’re taking care of ourselves, getting over these injuries,” said Talia Jones.
“It was definitely hard at first, like a shock with how many injuries we had at one time…But it was big because we had to trust new people on our team and positions that they haven’t been in yet. So trusting them,” adds Emma Harvey. “Yesterday’s games taught us how to play as a team. The first half went pretty good, and we just didn’t finish a lot of our shots.”
Finishing opportunities have been a point of focus for South Salem. They left too much on the table Tuesday night points Harvey, and in their eight games this season, they’ve produced more than one goal in a game twice. It’s something that they’ll look to improve upon, as well as they now dive right into their CVC schedule.
With North Salem Friday night at home, the South Salem squad will look to extend their winning streak to four and get above the .500 mark for the first time for the year.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
