Wed 27 Aug 2008
WEED – The Weed Cougars soccer team took the field with a new coach, and a new and improved style of play. However, Coach Mike Gilmore and his squad will have to wait a bit for their first win, after dropping the season opener to the Redding Christian Lions 4-2.
Spectators were treated to a physical match, with multiple momentum swings. Weed had the better of the early play, and narrowly missed notching the contest’s first goal at the four minute mark, when a shot by Usmaro Sanchez was tipped by the Lion goal keeper, and then went off the crossbar.
Near the midway point in the first half, Redding Christian seemed to gain an advantage in play. With about twenty-five minutes gone, Lion Drew VanderWerff shanked a shot from point blank range, but would redeem himself later in the match, twice.
VanderWerff found the back of the Cougar net with three minutes remaining in the half, to give Redding Christian a 1-0 lead going into the intermission.
Four minutes into the second half, a foul was called on the Lions’ goalkeeper in the box, and Omar Fernandez was awarded a penalty kick. Fernandez placed his kick perfectly into the corner of the net, to tie the match 1-1.
Six minutes later the Cougars took the lead 2-1, when Lori Garcia fought a crowd for possession of the ball in front of the Lion net, and tapped it home.
Redding Christian took just two minutes to respond, when Yoon Ho Jang scored off a cross from Ryan Stark, tying the match 2-2.
The tying goal energized the Lions and, although the Cougars had a couple more good scoring chances, Redding Christian mostly controlled the match the rest of the way.
With just over 10 minutes remaining to play, VanderWerff knocked home the game winner off a rebound from a shot by Josh Baker, making it 3-2. At the 73-minute mark, Jon Dinius headed in a pass from Stark for an insurance goal, which made the final score 4-2.
Byron Brown recorded the win in goal for Redding Christian. Both he and Weed’s keeper Roberto Sanchez were strongly tested in the match, and both came up with several magnificent saves.
Weed (0-1) will host Tulelake (1-0) at
