Offensive upswing has New Richmond girls soccer team on the move

• Kaycie Anderson

New Richmond leading scorer Kaycie Anderson (19) gets ready to fire a shot during last Tuesday’s Go Pink game against Somerset.

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An upturn in offensive production has the New Richmond girls soccer team moving up the Middle Border Conference standings.

The Tigers reached the .500 level (6-6-2) in the MBC with wins over Somerset and Amery last week. The Tigers are 4-2 in MBC games since May 1.

Making offensive progress has been an on-going goal for the Tigers and their work is beginning to bear results. According to Coach Steve Tesar, the goals are coming out of structured plays, as the girls learn to move the ball more quickly. The quick passing doesn’t leave the defense time to adjust.

“All our goals were from crashing the net off set plays,” Tesar said.

The Tigers scored six goals in three games last week. That started with a 3-1 win over Somerset. This was the first time the Tigers have defeated Somerset in Tesar’s two seasons as coach.

Somerset scored in the opening minutes of last Tuesday’s game, but the Tigers answered quickly. The play began with several quick ball exchanges between Brianna L’Allier and Kaycie Anderson. Anderson then fired a cross toward the Somerset goal crease. Hannah Hagen was waiting, redirecting the pass with one motion into the Somerset net.

The Tigers took the lead with 10 minutes left in the first half when Anderson got away for a breakaway.

Anderson netted her second goal midway through the second half. She received the ball 25 yards out, faked a shot and got a Somerset defender to commit, opening up a lane to run at the net. She chipped a shot into the upper edge of the goal.

The Tigers were also winners on Thursday at Amery, but only after overcoming the second straight game where they gave up a goal in the opening minutes. The Tigers overcame that early Amery score to win 2-1.

Amery scored in the first three minutes, but the Tigers matched that goal several minutes later. Quick passing produced the goal. Lydia Peterson got the play started with a sharp pass to Anderson. Anderson fired a shot, which the Amery goalkeeper punch saved. Hagen was crashing the net and quickly moved to the rebound, putting a quick shot in the Warrior goal.

Hagen scored the second of her two goals off a pass from Sydney Simpson, with Hagen chipping in a shot from 18 yards out.

When the Tigers hosted Hudson, one of their immediate goals was to prevent Hudson from scoring in the opening minutes, like their past two opponents had done. The Tigers achieved that objective, but weren’t able to match Hudson’s firepower in a 5-1 loss to the Raiders.

Hudson had the wind at its back for the first half of Saturday morning’s game and the gusty wind helped the Raiders keep the ball in the Tigers’ end of the field much of the half. The Raiders were able to score twice midway through the period to hold a 2-0 halftime lead.

The wind worked in the Tigers’ favor in the second half and the Tigers were able to keep a steady attack going through much of the half. The Tigers cut Hudson’s lead to 2-1 when they scored in the 58th minute. Anderson took a throw-in from Keegan Van Eperen and immediately fired a crossing pass. Simpson got control of the ball and she rifled a shot into the Raider goal.

Hudson answered that goal 90 seconds later. The Tigers had just three reserve players for this game and the team began running low on energy late in the contest. Hudson took advantage, scoring twice in the final minutes to expand the lead to 5-1.

The Tigers are seeing their season quickly reach its conclusion. The Tigers will play at home on Thursday against River Falls. The Tigers finish the regular season with an MBC home game next Tuesday against Spooner.

The WIAA tournaments will then take over the Tigers’ focus. The Division 1 sectional seeding will be announced this week. The Tigers will play their first regional tournament game on Thursday, May 31.

Tags: sports, tigers, soccer, prep