Churchill takes Blair 3-0

The Junior Varsity girls' soccer team lost to Churchill 3-0, bringing their season record this year to 1-1-1. The first half was especially trying for the Blazers, with one goal scored within the first six minutes of the game and the second following shortly afterwards.

Churchill dominated for most of the game, taking a multitude of shots on goal and limiting play to Blair's half for most of the game.

Coach Summer Roark, frustrated with the loss, explained, "We're a young team, we're just getting started. We're learning how to play as a team. We're learning how to gel as a team. There is a lot of talent."

Despite being demoralized, the girls worked hard to try and turn the game around. They fought especially ferociously towards the end of the second half, when they had a few promising breakaways, one of which nearly brought about a goal.

However, Churchill's superior footwork, positioning and passing skills were too much for the Blazers. Churchill's passing was fluid and the team had excellent chemistry. Another element to Churchill's successful strategy may have been the way they subbed in; putting in four girls at a time to energize the team, instead of Blair's one-at-a-time substitutions.

Blair was simply not aggressive enough. The defenders stayed back instead of attacking the Churchill offense, leaving midfielders to pick up the extra work, tiring the team and allowing several preventable scoring opportunities. Blazers also failed to control the ball as well as they could have, leading to a great deal of corner kicks for Churchill and uncontrolled heading which ended with Churchill in possession. There were also several penalty kicks during the course of the game, usually in Blair's favor, but one after a Churchill player was injured and escorted off the field.

Blair didn't manage to score, but Blazers did play better towards the end of the game, fighting for possession of the ball and giving Churchill a workout. "We picked it up in the second half," said center midfielder Patty Campbell.

"I don't know if we could have won, but I think we could have done better, because we've been practicing a lot of stuff we've made mistakes on," said Campbell.