Girls soccer falls to Olathe Northwest 1-0
The team falls to 9-4-2 on the season after the narrow defeat
May 9, 2017
The girls soccer team fell short against Olathe Northwest 1-0 on Monday, May 8.
Head coach Arlan Vomhof did not believe that his team had the right mindset going in, nor the aggressive play of previous games this season.
“We were not ready to play this game at all. Our first half, we didn’t do things that we’ve done all season,” Vomhof said. “We were doing the complete opposite of what we’ve been working on and we just weren’t ready in the first half. At the point that they got that header in, we had eight uncontested headers that they won. ”
Early in the first half, Olathe Northwest struck first in the 12th minute off a header to give the Ravens a 1-0 lead. Outside of two shots just over the crossbar from senior midfielder Haley Freeman, the Jaguars’ offense was stagnant.
During the halftime break, the team discussed their lack of effort and how to change the game going into the second half, according to Freeman.
“[We mainly talked about] winning balls in the air,” Freeman said. “That’s what we really focus on on defense. Also, making passes to our feet and not playing the through balls because we were on turf last night. Simply just putting in more effort.”
Even with the improved second half, Vomhof believes that his team should not be dealing with these issues at this point in the season during their 15th game.
“I told them tonight that it was frustrating because the team that played in the first half was not the team that beat Aquinas, it was not the team that beat Miege and it was not the team that beat Blue Valley,” Vomhof said. “In the second half, we saw more of that team than in the first half. It’s one of those things where it’s not necessarily how to play, but it’s if you’re not doing what we’ve been doing that got us this far, then we’re going to get taken advantage of.”
Freeman hopes that the team can move past this loss in order to prepare for the tough upcoming competition in the playoffs.
“Going into postseason next week, it will be difficult against those high level teams if we play like we did tonight,” Freeman said. “We need to focus on our next game against Blue Valley North and work on improving where we were last week and not last game to keep moving forward.”
As the team closes out their season, Vomhof will continue to provide positive encouragement for the team and expects the same from his leaders on the team.
“When we got done with the game I said, ‘You know what girls? That was a great half. That’s what we wanted,’” Vomhof said. “You just praise them when they do stuff right and correct the things that they aren’t doing right. We also need to rely on our leaders to get the team pumped up. It shouldn’t be the coaches trying to do it as much as the team leaders.”
The girls soccer team will close their regular season at Blue Valley North on Thursday, May 11.
