Their offense was efficient, freshman Carlee Biddle continued to impress, and the Oak Hill Golden Eagles came away with a 3-0 victory over Grant County rival Mississinewa.
From the start of the match, the Golden Eagles were in sync with one another offensively, seemingly moving the ball at will against the Mississinewa defense.
Taking control in the first ten minutes, the Golden Eagles struck quickly, as Biddle, who has been on a goal scoring tear as of late, took a shot that bounced off the crossbar and in to give the Golden Eagles an early 1-0 lead.
The Golden Eagles’ offense continued to hum in the first half, putting up 10 shots on goals and creating excellent scoring opportunities throughout.
Even though her team had a 1-0 lead after 40 minutes, head coach Katie Durrwachter didn’t think that the girls started the match as well as they had in previous games. After a halftime chat, however, the Golden Eagles locked in and began playing as one cohesive unit rather than as individuals.
“I thought we came out a little bit flat [tonight,]” Coach Katie Durrwachter said. “We came out [playing] as individuals in the first half, which is not the way they play soccer, [so during half-time,] they did some self-assessment, they did some peer assessment, they worked it out, and I was proud to see how they were students of the game in the second half.”
It was more of the same in the second half, as Oak Hill continued to create quality scoring chances and not allow Mississinewa to muster any kind of counterattack.
The most impressive factor about Oak Hill’s offense was their passing. The Golden Eagles placed the ball perfectly at teammates’ feet throughout the match, which helped to keep the offense flowing.
“We’ve been working on it in practice, but at the same time, they are the ones taking ownership of it and trying to improve it,” Durrwachter said. “We’ve been talking a lot this week about what they do to make themselves better on and off the field, and a couple of girls told me that they worked on their passing [before the game] because that’s something they wanted to improve on.”
Biddle scored her second goal of the game late in the second half, her sixth in four games, to give Oak Hill a 2-0 lead and effectively seal the deal.
Durrwachter, like many others, have been impressed with Biddle not only as a player, but as a person as well here in the early stages of the season.
“She’s a talented soccer player,” Durrwachter said. “She’s impressive and it’s exciting to watch her play. One of my favorite things about her is that she is not selfish. She assisted on Riley’s goal and the very first thing that happened on that field was she threw up her hands and celebrated for her teammate. There are a lot of wonderful things that she is going to do both on and off this field, and we are excited to have her.”
Rylea Roder gave the Golden Eagles an insurance goal a few minutes later to secure Oak Hill’s victory. Furthermore, the Golden Eagles finished with 25-7 advantage in shots.
All in all, Durrwachter was proud of her team’s effort, not just because of how they played, but because of their willingness to want to improve with each and every game.
“We’ve got girls who enjoy working hard, they want to do it, and they want to become better every day, which makes a big difference.”
