Glad coeds take care of business
The Gladiators win their girls soccer openers, defeating North Marion and Cascade
Gladstone and Molalla were tied for first place at the end of the first week of play in Capital Conference girls soccer.
The Gladiators (3-0-1, 2-0-0) kicked off their conference season with a 4-1 trouncing of North Marion and with a 3-0 shutout of Cascade; Molalla (3-0-1, 2-0-0) launched its conference campaign with a 7-1 rout of Cascade and with a 3-0 shutout of Stayton.
It took a half for the Gladiators to get their game going in last Thursday’s shutout of Cascade. It was a scoreless tie at halftime, but the Gladiators scored three goals inside the first nine minutes of the second half.
“We did a much better job of passing and moving the ball [in the second half],” said Gladstone coach Steve Thomas. “We were just kicking the ball and running in the first half. I told the girls they looked like a seventh grade rec team [in the first half].”
Freshman McKenna Hopkins broke the ice, scoring just 43 seconds into the second half, off a pass from sophomore Haleigh Murrell.
Seven minutes later, freshman Madison Cronin crossed the ball in to sophomore Ashley Beykovsky and Beykovsky found the net.
Beykovsky scored again a minute later on a 35-yard free kick to round out the scoring.
Thomas had his side with a 26-1 advantage in shots and he said Cascade’s keeper made 15 saves.
Thomas singled out defenders Kellie Skofstad, Meagan Bartz, Regan Cronin and Breannah Williams for standout play, along with defensive midfielder Jessica Hopkins.
Hopkins was named Gladstone’s “player of the game.”
Thomas said of the game with North Marion, “Their goalie [Genaya Surcamp] in my mind was the best goalie in league last year. If it wasn’t for her, we would have won by the maximum of seven goals that our league allows.”
Thanks to Surcamp’s heroics, Gladstone’s lead was only 2-1 at halftime.
Freshman Amber Jensen and Murrell scored Gladstone’s first-half goals.
Senior Jessica Hopkins and Jensen found the net in the second half.
Thomas had his side with a 31-6 advantage in shots taken and an 8-3 edge in corner kicks.
Sophomore Rylee Jones was named Gladstone’s “player of the game.”
“Rylee was all over the place,” said Thomas. “I had her playing three positions and she played all three positions really well.”
Gladstone guys weren’t as fortunate as the girls in play last week. The Glad guys (2-1-1) fell to North Marion 5-3 in their conference opener. They rebounded later in the week to win at Cascade 3-2.
Junior forward Angelo Flores made the difference for North Marion, scoring three of the Huskies’ five goals.
“This kid’s good,” said Gladstone coach Tyler Lewis. “He’s one for the best forwards I’ve seen – period.”
Flores staked the Huskies to a 2-0 lead in the first 20 minutes.
The Gladiators cut the gap to 2-1 at halftime when Gonzalo Ibarra scored off an assist from Jaime Mercado.
Flores and a teammate added two quick goals in the opening minutes of the second half, and the Huskies appeared to have the game in hand.
Marco Thompson scored goals at the 54 and 71-minute marks to trim the gap to 4-3 and make a game of it. But North Marion added a fifth tally with a minute to go, and the game belonged to the Huskies.
Lewis had the Huskies with a 32-20 advantage in shots.
“The goalie’s were busy,” he said.
The Cascade game wasn’t as close as the final score might indicate. Gladstone led 3-0 when Ibarra buried the ball in the back of the net just nine minutes after the intermission.
Thompson and Ethan Schwanz both found the net in the first half.
“It was one of those games where we couldn’t finish,” said Lewis, who had his side with a 22-7 advantage in shots.