Story originally printed in the Tomah Journal or online at www.tomahjournal.com
Published - Monday, May 05, 2008
Soccer can't cash in, deadlocks with Logan
The scoring opportunities have been there for the Tomah High School girls soccer team.
The goals, however, haven’t.
For the second time in 10 days, Tomah couldn’t convert its scoring chances and lost a chance at breakthrough victory. This time, the result was a 1-1 tie against La Crosse Logan in a Mississippi Valley Conference matchup Thursday at E.J. McKean Field.
Logan remained unbeaten in the MVC with a 5-0-2 record, but the tie hobbled the Rangers’ quest for an MVC title. The Rangers are a full game behind La Crosse Aquinas in the MVC standings.
Tomah, meanwhile, got its second MVC tie of the season. On April 22, Tomah held three-time defending MVC champion Onalaska to a 0-0 deadlock in another match in which the Timberwolves had the better of the scoring chances.
“It’s frustrating,” Tomah coach Dale Jonson said. “We’ve played really good soccer all year. We’re building scoring chances, but we’re having trouble scoring goals.”
The Timberwolves had plenty of chances in the final 10 minutes of regulation against Logan to break a 1-1 tie, but two close free kicks and two crossing shots in front of the net that barely eluded the intended receivers came up empty.
Tomah scored its only goal in the 19th minute, when midfielder Nikki Reinhart took a pass from Jorden James, maneuvered to her right and fired a low, hard shot that went between the legs of Logan goalkeeper Taylor Lewis.
Logan came out and dominated the first 10 minutes of the second half and scored its only goal in the 48th minute. The Rangers almost scored a goal a minute later, but Tomah goalkeeper Kylie Dietzman came up with her biggest save of the game to preserve the deadlock.
Jonson said his team did a good job of keeping Logan’s offense bottled up. Both teams put 11 shots on goal, but Logan didn’t get many quality shots.
“Our midfielders and defensive midfielders played really solid,” Jonson said. “They pushed the ball to the outside and kept (Logan’s) offense at bay.”
Tomah’s overall record fell to 5-8-2. Jonson hopes his team is close to getting over the hump.
“It’s hard to be disappointed in our season, but it’s frustrating to know how many scoring chances we’ve had, “ he said. “We’re staying in games, and we’re hoping for that game when we break through.”
All stories copyright 2006 Tomah Journal and other attributed sources.