Cyclones season ended by Cardinals, 2-0
The phrase "with little room for error" is commonly uttered in sports, and that proved to be true Wednesday night in Treynor, as the Cardinals ended the HCHS Cyclones girls soccer season shutting them out 2-0 to stamp their ticket to the Regional Final Game against the Underwood Eagles.
"I appreciated the effort," said Cyclone Head Coach Jared Boysen. "It's always been there. I know we gave up a couple that we probably shouldn't have, but with those goals, it's hard against their defense to keep up with that. I thought the effort was there and we didn't quit. They wanted to finish strong, and I thought we did that."
The game started off quiet on both sides, with neither team scoring until Sophomore Cardinal Adalyn Minahan snuck in a goal past Cyclone Junior goalkeeper Grace Albertsen giving her team a 1-0 lead.
Less than 10 minutes following Minahan's goal, Senior Cardinal Allie Houser connected for a goal via the header just out of the reach of Albertsen putting her team up 2-0.
Neither team would score following Houser's header taking a 2-0 lead into halftime.
"We knew against their tough defense we weren't going to get a lot of opportunities," Boysen said. "They possess the ball really well. They have the ball most of the time passing it around us. We had a couple of opportunities there in the second half on their end, so I thought we had a couple of chances there, but we just weren't able to finish there to get it back up to 2."
The second half of the game was quiet offensively by both teams as the Cyclones couldn't score, ending their season. They finished with a record of 10-8, which included a 4-game winning streak coming into their game against Treynor with a 3-1 First Round Regional victory over the East Sac County Raiders at Merrill Field.
"I think the resilience and not giving up," Boysen said of their season. "We kind of had a rough stretch there in the middle against some tough teams. I thought we improved throughout the whole year."
Seniors Anna Blake, Marissa Schmidt, Adrian Irlbeck, and Hailey Good won't return due to graduating. Boysen is grateful for their contributions.
"Their character and how they started as freshmen," he said. "Not all of them played right away. They had to work their way up. A lot of them contributed this year for us. Off the field, a lot of them help with the youth with the younger kids. Winning and losing won't always be there, but in your life, just being able to help out with others and help out and contribute to the community."
Despite losing those seniors, Boysen is optimistic about the future of Cyclone soccer, whether it's returning students or new faces that join the program.
"They have improved a lot," he added. "Especially with the defense and a lot of new starters this year. They have grown a lot and they'll all be juniors next year as a group if they keep going. Offensively, this group has been together with Aubrey [Schwieso] and hopefully we'll get Ivy [Stevens] back. We really missed her in this one. Just another presence on offense to give us a look. I think the future is bright and we'll keep improving and keep playing together. I'm looking forward to the future."