Prairie du Chien Soccer
Prairie's Gabby Toberman takes a shot at the Richland Center goal Thursday. (Photos by Ted Pennekamp)
Gracie Colson of Prairie du Chien attempts to take the ball away from a Richland Center player.
Mackenzie Pettit tries to maneuver around a Richland Center defender.
Prairie soccer
blanks Richland Center
The Prairie du Chien Lady Hawks soccer team had a phenomenal game to defeat the visiting Richland Center Hornets 2-0 Thursday afternoon.
In the first half, Prairie dominated the game, only allowing Richland Center to get into Prairie’s defensive half of the field two times.
Prairie du Chien scored the first goal of the game 24 minutes in when their continuous attack paid off. The goal was scored by Kierstyn Rogers and assisted by Brytta Sagedahl. It was a beauty of a volley into the goal when Rogers crashed the net on the far side.
Prairie controlled the ball for much of the game, driving down the center of the field with intermittent attacks down the outside with the mids Kylee Weber, Reagan McCormick and Kaylin Waller. Each mid worked well with the outside backs and forwards for some through balls and give and go plays.
In the second half, Prairie kept it up and their second goal was scored by Caitlin Nolan off a perfect free kick from about 35 yards out, a nice driven ball into the upper corner. Mackenzie Pettit had an aggressive game pushing down the line to maintain possession and had a couple of nicely placed crosses into the goal box.
Prairie managed a total of 32 shots, just missing the open net. Lots of great attacks led to shots by Sagedahl with seven followed by Pettit and Gabby Toberman with three apiece.
Prairie du Chien also had a couple of other goals but they were scored after an offside advantage. Offsides is when the attacking player was goal side when the play was made. Prairie also had another goal scoring opportunity late in the second half when Richland Center had a handball in the box resulting in a penalty kick. Sageadahl took the kick but the Richland Center keeper made another save.
Nolan had a solid game on defense halting Richland center at midfield with outside backs Gracie Colson and Madalyn Roche for most of the game. Kennedy Kirschbaum and Jenna Holler also stepped up for some varsity time and did a great job playing with confidence and strength on the ball. Holler got two shots on goal during her time on defense.
Prairie returns to play at home, both varsity and JV, next Tuesday against Galena.
