Blazers live through sudden death

The JV girl's soccer team won 1-0 in a double overtime game against the Blake Bengals, making the girl's record this year 2-2-1. Elizabeth Burch and Allison Rubin made the impressive winning play as Burch sent the ball over Blake's defense and Rubin collected the ball to take the winning shot.

During the first half of the game the two teams looked evenly matched as Blair was having difficulty keeping possession of the ball. Communication was a huge issue as players watched the ball go through each other, assuming the other player would get it. Due to the lack of talking, many players did not even know when the ball was coming to them. Blair barely managed to get the ball near the Blake goal and pressure their defense.

The second half of the game started out strong with a remarkably different looking team. Passes became concise and there were numerous give and go's that moved the ball down field. Captain Karla Berberich was successful at switching the field, while keeping a tight defense. Sophomore Andrea Arias played a good game in the midfield and helped create many scoring opportunities. While Rubin took numerous shots on goal but many were taken too late to be effective.

JV Coach Summer Roark agrees that her team is definitely a second half team. "They're stronger after talking to each other," says Roark.

Roark also mentioned the pressure the team had this game with several players out due to injury, including keeper Allison Kator with a sprained ankle. According to Roark, Blake improved a great deal from last year and surprised the Blazers with a close game.

The Blazers did not want another game to end in a tie and as the second overtime began they longed for the critical goal. "I was worried, it was tight," says Roark.

Roark also emphasized how this was a big game for the team after several disappointing previous games. "They really wanted this game," says Roark.