Lady Wolverines tie one, lose one

 Weiser’s Lady Wolverine varsity soccer team put on a defensive display in Emmett on Tuesday, Sept. 3, holding the Huskies to a 0-0 tie until Emmett landed a goal with only 2 and a-half minutes left in the game. The Lady Wolverines pushed on, talking to and encouraging each other and at the 10-second mark evened the score with a goal netted by junior forward Isabella Froshiesar.

 Weiser came close to taking a lead in the first half, but an offsides call eliminated Froshiesar’s first goal in the game.

 Contributing to the tie, Weiser senior goalkeeper Teagan Hawker’s save count was off the charts. And, teammates described their feelings after the game as “accomplished” and “on fire.” 

 “On defense, we stayed pushed up a lot,” freshman defender Arri Marquez said. 

 “We kept our line and there were a lot of offsides called on them,” freshman Sophie Shirts added.

 “It was an amazing game,” coach Trine Loenberg said. “They played as a team, they played with confidence. They fought to the bitter end, they didn’t give up, and then when Emmett scored at 2:38, I was so disappointed for the girls. They had done so much, they had pressured. Then, I could just hear the girls, the midfield, the forwards going ‘come on, girls!’

 “And, then, they just went for it and with 10 seconds left, they scored,” she said.  “They acted as if they had won the game. Every one of them came running off the field, so happy. And that’s the most important thing!”

 Looking ahead to the next day’s game in Homedale, Loenberg said in both Emmett and Homedale the Wolverines were playing on turf for the first time. 

 “It’s not like the other teams don’t have an advantage, because they practice on it, and we don’t,” she said. “So, that’s also something to take into consideration on how they played so well on it.”

Weiser 1, Homedale 5

 Finding themselves down 3-0 at the end of the first half in Homedale, the Lady Wolverines made some defensive adjustments going into the second, closing a gap in the middle, and playing until the final whistle.

 The Trojans scored twice more in the second 40 minutes of play, but the Wolverines answered with a goal late in the game.

 Coach Trine Loenberg described the offensive move, saying Isabella Froshiesar (7) was doing most of it, taking the ball in close, “but when she shot the ball it bounced into another player, giving Chloe Moses an opening for the shot and score.”

 “What impresses me with these girls, they are starting to play as a team, recognizing it’s easier if they play together,” Loenberg said. “You could just see them when they went out in the second half, my defenders were ‘we’ve got this.’

 “They figured it out,” she said. “That is what impresses me with these girls. None of these girls give up and most of them can play a whole game. I might pull someone out to inform them of something, and they go back in and communicate it to the team.”

 “These girls have opened up, they’re honest, they’re communicating, and they want to try to figure things out together,” she said.