Angels win home opener
Blue Angels return home with a victory
Kaskaskia takes first match on KC pitch
By RANDY LIST
CENTRALIA — After a long stretch to begin the season, the Kaskaskia College women’s soccer team found its way home — and to victory.
Making their first appearance on the Blue Angels’ pitch — other than a preseason scrimmage — KC posted a 3-0 decision Sunday over visiting Triton.
The win improves Kaskaskia to 6-2-1 heading into Region 24 showdown this Saturday at nationally ranked Heartland. Triton is 1-5.
Freshman Lily Reed continued her torrid scoring pace with her 10th and 11th goals of the season and Emma Eversgerd had the other tally for Kaskaskia with all coming in the first half.
“We go into every game wanting to be the aggressor and we were able to that,” said Kaskaskia coach Joe Basch. “We didn’t score in the second half but we still generated shots and corner kicks which helped us catch our breath while providing some opportunities.”
Reed gave the Blue Angels a 1-0 lead nine minutes into the match on one of several rushes on goal in which she took the ball from the side and cut toward the middle of the field. Tynley Jackson provided an assist.
“My teammates help me a lot,” said Reed, who played high school soccer at Owensville (Mo.) HS. “I was a little nervous (coming into the season) but we’re all very close and if we see something that we need to do better, we can talk about it and then it’s an easy fix. We get along with each other.”
The Angels had a 15-5 edge in shots on goal and had two go wide before Reed scored her second goal in the 22nd minute. That came after Aubri Johnson put a loft pass over the defense from the right sideline and Reed took it in from 10 yards out.
Kaskaskia’s final goal by Eversgerd came with 4:08 left in the half on a feed from Reese Turner.
The second half saw the Angels get clear outs on the defensive end by Ashlyn Gebke, Johnson, Kaylin Culver and Olivia Neudecker, all in the first 10 minutes. Reed and Averie Taylor also had shots at the net on the offensive side, and keeper Sofia Wallace had stops on two tries by Triton and also handled the ball on a pair of coverups.
“The communication between Sofia and the backline was really good,” said Basch. “They made all the right decisions on whether they (the defenders) or Sofia should get it (the ball) and they all worked well together.”
The match was moved up to a 9 a.m. kickoff due to expected warmer temperatures later in the day.
“It’s good to be back home and we’re glad we got it (the match) in before it got really hot,” said Basch whose team was playing its fourth contest in six days. “We’ve played a lot lately so we’ll take a day (Monday) off and start getting ready for Heartland.”
On Friday, Kaskaskia had completed its string of eight straight road matches (another was postponed due to weather) to begin the season with a 5-1 victory at Illinois Central College.
Reed had two goals and Taylor, Eversgerd and Jaiden Belt one each while assists went to Reed, belt and Abby Hill. Wallace handled three shots in the contest.
