Rams Fall Short in Defensive Struggle

In a scrappy defensive oriented game, the Highland women’s soccer team fell short against the number one ranked team in the 4A classification.  Coming off of an exceptional win against region 5 power-house Woods Cross, the Lakers came out strong, looking to continue on their winning streak.  They attacked early and often  scoring a quick goal that was called off due to an offside’s penalty.  The Lakers continued to attempt to over-power the Rams but, Highland’s stout defense’ led by senior and captain Kayla Greer’ along with some key saves by goalie Kennedy McDonald’ kept the two teams neck and neck for the majority of the first half.

Although possession favored the Lakers for the majority of the first half (mostly due to a strong wind at their backs), senior Emma Thornton was able to get a shot on goal off of a penalty against Bonneville that just barely sailed over the opponent’s crossbar.

Then, in what came as a very frustrating moment for players and fans alike, the Lakers were awarded a free kick off of a Highland foul in the goal box in the closing minutes of the first half.  The one on one kick went in favor of Bonneville, putting them up 1-0 going into halftime break.

The drama continued during the break as Highland’s head coach was given a red card and ejected from the game for arguing what he felt were one-sided calls on behalf of the officiating crew.

Rallying around their absent coach, the lady Rams put pressure on the Lakers D for the remainder of the game.  As the clock descended, the penalties began to stack up for both sides arousing the fans and players alike. Both teams were getting very physical leaving it all on the field.

Although HHWS showed great persistence and energy entering the final minutes of the game, the Lakers were able to hold on and out last the Rams in their third region 5 victory of the year.  The final score was 1-0, with the only goal coming off a very questionable call in the box.

As for the Rams, they will set their sights on rival East as they hope to redeem last year’s failure to pull out a win. Moving forward, Highland hopes to improve their passing game and spreading the field.

“Today’s loss only prepares us for next week’s game,” Senior and team Captain Lily Olson said. “We know what we need to work on so we can beat our rivals East.”