(Atlantic) Atlantic defeated Kuemper, Catholic, Carroll 4-1 in the girl’s soccer season opener on Monday at the Trojan Bowl in Atlantic.
“I don’t know when the last time this happened,” said Atlantic Head Coach Dan Vargason. “We’ve lost to Kuemper by one goal for the past nine years. We finally got to shake the monkey off our back. They’re a quality team; they move the ball well, we just found the back of the net a little bit better. It meant a lot for our girls to put in two weeks of hard work and get a win for us.”
Jada Jensen scored two goals and Quinn Grubbs and Lindley Eblen each netted one to lead the Trojans.
Jensen got the ball rolling with a goal at the 20:31 mark in the first half. Mia Muller was credited with the assist. Quinn Grubbs added to the score with a long kick from mid-field with 1:12 left in the first half to boost the Trojans to a 2-0 lead at the break.
“The first goal was interesting,” said Vargason. “I thought Kuemper controlled the ball more than we did, but we got a nice goal to put us into the lead, and Quinn just played the wind and put the ball over the goalie’s head to put us up 2-0. Our energy picked up after that second goal.”
The Trojans kept the momentum going in the second half with an attack, and Jensen finished with a soft kick into the back of the net at the 31:34 mark to put the home team up 3-0. Lindley Eblen pushed the count to 4-0 with a goal with 16:29 left to play.
“We challenged them to possess the ball better in the second half, and we connected passes,” said Vargason. “The defense set up the third goal, and that was very nice. Our defense played great all night. Quinn Grubbs did a nice job playing the outside passes, she would rotate out, and Mia Muller and Grace Barkley would fill in, and Maycie Waters would rotate, and they had a great game and controlled Catherine Mayhall; who is a great player.”
The Knights got on the board with 11:28 left to play, Kenya Prescott gave the Knights a spark with the goal to close the gap to 4-1.
