Clear Lake girls soccer team tops GHV; falls to Denver in second round

(Above) Clear Lake’s Taylor Hill works her way around GHV’s Jacki Van Oort during the opening round of post-season on June 1.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

The Clear Lake girls soccer team ended a successful season in the second round of post-season play June 1.  With a win over Garner-Hayfield-Ventura in their first round on May 29, the Lions assured themselves of a winning season.   A loss to highly-regarded Denver on Friday left Clear Lake with a 7-6 record.

CL 2, GHV 0

For the fourth time this season the Lions squared off against GHV.  Like the previous matches, it was a battle.  And like the previous matches, Clear Lake posted the win.

“The Cardinals applied lots of pressure on us early, but we were able to make some adjustments to counter back,” said Coach Greg Jennings.

Sara Faber was able to find her 15th and 16th goals of the season to give the Lions the edge and victory.

“Again, we played  solid soccer all the way through— from our forwards, Lizzie Lakose and Alexia Whitehouse, to our mid-fielders, Kateyln Moore, Sara Faber and  Delaney Eaden, and all the way back to my defenders, Rissa Barragy, Kayla Ritter, Taylor Hill and Taylor Krul,” said Coach Jennings.  

Chelsy Holck had her first shut out game of the season in goal.

“Our bench has been pretty rock solid for us all season, with good play coming from Krystle Lu and Hope Shaman. It’s so important to have kids you can pull off the bench and put in and know they will do their job,” added Jennings.  “Advancing out of the first round was a team goal that we set at the beginning of the season, so seeing the girls accomplish that was pretty special.”

Denver 8, CL 0 

The Lions started off flat and never did get going against seventh ranked (Class 1A) Denver in the second round played Friday at Denver.

“The deeper you get into the tournament, the better teams you see and Denver was no exception,” said Coach Jennings.  “Without a doubt,  this was the best team we have seen all season. The amount of pressure they fired at us was nothing short of impressive.”

The Lion defense did all it could to keep Denver from scoring, but they wee just too much to handle. Jennings also noted the Denver defense made ball movement the biggest struggle for the Lions.

Denver was able to put eight shots through on freshman goal keeper Chelsey Holck, while she saved an impressive 36 shots on goal.

“It pretty much sums up the game when your goal keeper is the only one with stats on the stat sheet,” said Jennings.