New Richmond girls soccer team seeing offensive progress

• Kaycie Anderson

New Richmond junior Kaycie Anderson (18) leads an offensive attack during a recent Tiger game.

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Generating more scoring chances is a step in the right direction, although the New Richmond girls soccer team is struggling to turn the progress into wins.

The Tigers suffered recent losses to Rice Lake and Spooner, though Tiger coach Steve Tesar said he saw offensive progress from his team in both games.

The loss at Spooner showed how close the Tigers can get to an upper level Middle Border Conference team. The Tigers lost at Spooner last Thursday 3-2.

“We outshot them. We played really well in spurts,” Tesar said, giving the opinion that the Tigers played better than they had on defense.

Each team scored once in the first half. The Tiger goal was produced by freshman Sydney Simpson, her first varsity goal. Kaycie Anderson sent a crossing pass toward the front of the goal and Simpson made a well-timed move to the net to get the goal.

Simpson earned some time at forward late in the game because she is showing the aggressive play the coaches have been looking for from the players in front of the net.

Spooner took the lead with goals two minutes apart early in the second half.

Anderson scored the Tigers’ second goal against Spooner in the game’s 56th minute. Anderson stole the ball from a Spooner defender just outside the goal box. She knocked the ball down with her chest, directly to her foot, and in one motion she put the ball into the upper right corner of the net from 20 yards out.

Tesar said the game likely hinged on the first 10 minutes of action. The Tigers had four strong scoring chances in that time, including one shot that hit the crossbar.

While the Tigers are 2-4-2 in conference play, Tesar took pride in the fact that the Tigers’ four losses have all been by one goal. With the team starting the second half of the MBC schedule this week, he is hoping the team can find more offensive punch to turn some of those games in the Tigers’ favor.

The Tigers face a staunch challenge this Thursday. They play at home against Hayward, the MBC leader. The Tigers play at home twice to start next week. On Monday the Tigers host Menomonie in a non-conference game and they host Baldwin-Woodville the following afternoon.

Tags: sports, tigers, soccer, prep