By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– In her first game back from injury, West Salem’s Liliana Eckert scored twice in the Titans’ 2-0 victory over South Salem at South Salem High School Thursday night. Both goals came in the final 17 minutes of the game that helped the Titans continue their winning ways in the Central Valley Conference league play going into the final week of the regular season.
It came down to finishing their opportunities as well for the Titans, who now have won six of their last seven games after starting the year 0-5-1 as they now hold a one game lead on the Saxons going into their final game of the season with Sprague.
“It was so huge, honestly. I came into this game knowing that I wasn’t going to get a lot of playing time, so I wanted to make the most of the playing time that I had. So I came out here, gave it my all, and came out with two goals,” smiles Eckert. “After our tough preseason, we just locked in and knew that we had to show up for league if we wanted to get into playoffs. We worked hard every day in training, and it paid off.”
For the Saxons, it was a bittersweet way to send off their seniors. They were knocking at the door in possibly scoring a few goals of their own, but with how they’re positioned in league, they got a chance to build some momentum for the postseason as they close out the regular season Tuesday with McNary.
“I think we did ok. We just need to take advantage of our opportunities. We had some chances, and we didn’t put them away, and they did,” said South Salem Head Coach Jaime Rodriguez. “We’re just going into McNary and hopefully play well so we can build up for the playoffs.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
