Girls soccer: Ottawa scores twice in second half to top La Salle-Peru

OTTAWA – It’s common on days where the conditions aren’t the greatest that coaches will say it doesn’t mean much. Both sides have to play in them.

Although Ottawa’s Sean Porter and La Salle-Peru’s Christin Pappas agreed the strong winds from the west gave their respective team an advantage for a half during Wednesday afternoon’s Interstate 8 Conference match at King Field, they also acknowledged it was the ability to capitalize that was the difference in the outcome.

After a scoreless first half, the Pirates finally broke the ice with a goal 10 minutes into the second half, then added a second goal with eight minutes left to capture a 2-0 victory over the rival Cavaliers.

“It’s hard to play going into a constant 25 mph wind, there’s no doubt about it,” Porter said. “I thought we did a good job of possessing the ball for the majority of the match overall, but the wind in the second half really helped us with that for sure. We were able to withstand it going against the wind in the opening half, and I felt coming in at halftime tied we were in a pretty good spot.

“I feel like overall, wind or no wind, we could have been a little more efficient in all aspects of play. But for only our third game of the season, today is something we can take a lot from and work on.”

Ottawa (2-1, 1-1) scored what proved to be the game-winning goal 10 minutes into the second half when freshman center midfielder Yesenia Leon floated a shot from 40 yards out into the net. The play started when a punt from L-P keeper Lexi Robbins at the top of the penalty box was knocked down by a gust of wind right to Leon, whose shot beat the keeper back to the net.

“The ball came rolling right to me with a ton of open space around me,” Leon said. “I knew the keeper was out of the net, and I just had to put a good kick on it.

“Coach Porter is always telling us that we need to take the shot when we have those chances. I know I’m pretty good at getting shots up in the air, so I knew I could make that shot. I trusted myself to get a good kick off, and fortunately it went in.”

L-P (3-6-1, 0-2) had a good chance to tie the match minutes later. However, Isabella Lambert’s breakaway down the left sideline ended with a shot that trickled just wide of the far post.

The hosts made it a two-goal contest with eight minutes remaining when, after the ball ping-ponged off several players following a corner kick, it found the foot of senior Gabi Krueger at the goal mouth.

In the first half, the Cavaliers had three solid chances go just wide by Lambert, Danica Scoma and Litzy Lopez, while Ottawa had close calls from Morgan Clements and Ari Bodhaine.

For the match, Ottawa outshot L-P 25-12 overall and 11-4 in on-target chances. Robbins posted nine saves, while Ottawa’s Cameron Johnson recorded four saves in collecting the shutout.

“We just couldn’t find the back of the net on the opportunities we had, and that’s been a problem for us lately,” Pappas said. “We just haven’t been able to finish. It’s something we’ve talked about and something we will continue to work on, but right now we’re just struggling to put the ball in the net. This is a hungry team ... one that works really hard and is playing tactically very well. We just need to get that last little bit, our finishes, working.

“I thought overall we played a solid match, and so did Ottawa. I felt our two teams were very evenly matched, but the difference today was we made a couple of mistakes that they took advantage of, and we didn’t do the same with the chances we had.”