Girls soccer: La Salle-Peru, Streator play to 2-2 tie

Streator girls soccer coach JT Huey joked Friday that the Bulldogs may need to find a new location or time to play at La Salle-Peru.

“This is the second time we’ve come here and it’s been sleeting or snowing,” Huey said. “So I’m telling them we have to find a dome … or play in May.”

With temperatures in the 30s, rain and sleet during warmups and a strong wind throughout, the Bulldogs and Cavaliers played to a 2-2 tie in a nonconference game at the L-P Sports Complex.

“Slow to step, that was the story of the day,” Huey said. “We were slow to step. It was the second game of the year. The weather was really messing with their heads. I think both teams you saw a little slow stepping, but L-P was always first to the ball. They were doing a very nice job crashing our defenders, and we didn’t know how to pick them up.

“A tie is not the end of the world. We hoped for the win, especially with that final odd call, but there’s not much we can do about that.”

—  Christin Pappas, La Salle-Peru soccer coach

“Overall, I’ll take the tie in weather like this. Their program is coming up real nice. They gave us a great match. We’ll have to make some adjustments, but I was happy with the way we played, especially compared to our first game. We played Mendota [and lost 6-3] and didn’t do very well. We showed some improvement.”

Huey said the Bulldogs did a better job handling and passing the ball.

“We definitely distributed the ball better,” Huey said. “There was less random touches. There’s was more into space, finding players feet, stuff like that.”

L-P coach Christin Pappas said she saw improvement in her team, as well.

“I thought our girls played smart,” Pappas said. “They had some beautiful combinations, which is something we’re working on.”

Streator struck first when senior forward Zulima Gonzalez sent the ball through the L-P defense.

The junior midfielder sprinted to the ball ahead of the Cavalier defenders, dribbled into the box and sent the ball into the net with 22:38 left in the first half.

“They had a five defensive back, and I was trying to get them to pull the ball toward the flag and once you get the ball toward the flag, you find space in the center, and that’s exactly what we did and we had players who were able to finish,” Huey said.

Two minutes later, the Cavs responded when senior forward Litzy Lopez scored on an assist from senior midfielder Danica Scoma.

“I just think keeping the fire,” Pappas said about how the Cavs responded to the goal. “We’re a squad of pride. I think trusting each other and being able to answer quickly is a beautiful thing. I love to see it.”

The game was tied at 1 at halftime before the Bulldogs took the lead once again on a goal by Audrey Arambula with 29:14 left.

“Getting scored on on a lob ball is a frustrating way to go down a goal,” Pappas said. “Their second goal was a beautiful finish and mistakes by our back line.”

L-P had an answer again when Scoma scored off an assist from Abigail Poole with 24:57 left.

“What I like to see is not the same girl finishing, which is what happened,” Pappas said. “I like our girls are unselfish with the ball.”

The Cavs had a chance to take the win late.

With 2 1/2 minutes left, a shot bounced off the Streator keeper. An L-P player bumped into her and the ball bounced around before it was kicked into the net. The shot, however, was waived off.

“I guess [the keeper] grabbed her headband so they considered it a head injury, but she was just fixing her headband,” Pappas said. “Unfortunately, that means stopping the clock, so our goal was not considered a goal.

“A tie is not the end of the world. We hoped for the win, especially with that final odd call, but there’s not much we can do about that.”