Glad booters at the top of the heap

Gladstone’s boys and girls soccer teams take care of business with Molalla and Stayton

By John Denny

The Clackamas Review, Oct 1, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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Gladstone’s girls and boys soccer teams both found themselves at the top of the heap in Capital Conference soccer at the conclusion of play last week.

The Gladiator girls (5-0-1, 4-0-0) recorded shutouts of Molalla (5-0) and Stayton (6-0) to continue unbeaten on the season, as well as in conference.

Gladstone’s unheralded boys team improved to 3-1-0 in conference (4-1-1 overall), edging 10th-ranked Molalla (2-1) and upsetting sixth-ranked Stayton (1-0).

“We’ve had 10 girls score in four league games,” said Gladstone girls coach Steve Thomas. “It shows the girls are moving the ball around. We don’t have [graduate] Emily Tsugawa back to do the scoring this year, so the girls know they have to do it as a team, and they’re getting it done as a team. Everyone’s contributing.”

The Gladiators had out-scored six opponents 22-2 through play last week. Thomas said he’s been able to give 18 girls playing time in each of his first four conference games.

Four different Gladstone players found the net in last week’s 5-0 win at Molalla. Sophomore Ashley Beykovsky scored twice and served up a pair of assists.

Freshmen Amber Jensen and Taylor Plunkett added singled tallies, along with sophomore Rylee Jones. Jensen headed in a corner kick from sophomore Haleigh Murrell. Freshman Madison Cronin also had an assist.

Elise Breshears earned her third shutout.

“This team’s maturing quicker than I thought they would,” said Thomas. “We’re a really young team. We’ve got five freshmen and five sophomores [on our varsity roster]. If they keep this up, we’ll do well when we get to the playoffs.”

Thomas said of Molalla, “They’re the best team we’ve played all year.”

He said that defense was the key against the Indians.

“They’ve got a speedster – Claire Thomas, who’s one of the better players in the league. Regan Cronin marked her most of the game and shut her down. She only got around Regan twice.”

Thomas also heaped praise on Kellie Skofstad, Meagan Bartz, Jessica Hopkins and Breannah Williams for stellar play on defense.

The Glad girls were dominant throughout in their 6-0 rout of Stayton. Thomas had his side with a 28-3 advantage in shots.

Jensen and Skofstad headed the scoring with two goals apiece. Beykovsky and Madison Cronin had single tallies. Regan Cronin sparked the offense with four assists.

Breshears recorded her fourth shutout.

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