Girls’ Soccer Goes 1-3-1 in 5 Games over 8 Days

South Fork’s varsity girls’ soccer team played a marathon schedule over the past week, playing five times in eight days. Their overall record is now 4-9-1, but their record against small schools is still good enough to qualify for a post season berth at 4-3-1 with two more games to play against small schools.

The marathon began during the festivities of Homecoming week as South Fork fell 2-0 to Ferndale at home on Wednesday, October 7th. Ferndale scored early on a 30 yard shot by senior Wildcat star midfielder Genevieve Regli. Both sides traded possession for most of the rest of the game, with Ferndale shooting 17 times to South Fork’s 14. Tapia played well, making 7 saves, but with just 5 minutes left in the game she leaped to make a save and had the ball in her possession with her arms outstretched when a Ferndale player bumped her, causing her to fall and lose her grip on the ball. Ferndale alertly poked the ball into the back of the net, but the South Fork players were stunned that no whistle had blown the play dead when the keeper was fouled. The final score stood at 2-0, a bitter defeat after beating the Wildcats in the league opener just weeks ago.

On Friday Willits came to town for Homecoming and the Cubs led 1-0 throughout the game on an early 35-yard goal by senior midfielder Nadia Wilke, assisted by junior striker Olivia Baffert. The Cubs out shot the Wolverines 14-12, but the defense faltered near the end of the game and on a failed clearance Willits tied the game with just minutes left for a final score of 1-1.

On Saturday the Lady Cubs traveled to McKinleyville and lost 1-0. The game was suspended shortly into the second half when once again the South Fork goalkeeper was left exposed by poor officiating, resulting in a violent collision. The severity of the injury warranted ending the game since the player could not be moved off the field until emergency medical personnel were on scene.

On Monday the Cubs hosted Mendocino in a must-win situation to keep their post season hopes alive. With just 12 players available the Lady Cubs dominated the Cardinals, outshooting them 11-2, and winning the game 3-0. The first goal came about 10 minutes into the game when sophomore striker Kylie Messenger took a pass from Wilke and dribbled toward the goal, firing from the penalty spot and easily beating the Mendo keeper for her 6th goal of the season.

The score was 1-0 at halftime. Fifteen minutes into the second half senior midfielder Noelia Alatorre collected the ball about 35 yards out and put on a dribbling clinic as she wove through the Mendo defense to put away her fourth goal of the season.

Ten minutes later, Baffert slotted the ball across the face of the goal to junior midfielder Alyssa Rogers, who was waiting at the back post for the tap-in and her fourth goal of the season. Playing in goal for the injured Tapia was freshman Paloma Avilez in the first half and junior Daphne Hobbs in the second half.

On Wednesday the Lady Cubs traveled to Eureka and lost 7-0 to a well polished team in contention to win the Humboldt Del Norte Conference championship this season. Hobbs played well for the Lady Cubs in goal with 17 saves.

Now the Cubs get two days off and then will do it all over again starting on Saturday with another run of five games to be played in 8 days. They will host St. Bernard’s on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Next Arcata comes to town Monday for a 5:30 kick-off. On Wednesday the Cubs host Fortuna with a 6 p.m. kick off. They will travel to Upper Lake on Friday October 21 in a game that will seal their post-season fate, and then will host Del Norte on the following Saturday.