The Lady Cadets Soccer team hosted Cardinal Ritter this evening in an ICC contest. Due to a middle school football game, the grass field was used to host the Lady Raiders. Tonight’s game was the third game for Cardinal Ritter whose record currently stands at 0-2. Tonight’s game is the fifth game for the Lady Cadets whose record has fallen to 2-2 after the 2-1 defeat at Western Boone on Tuesday night. Tonight’s game is also part of a four game stretch where the Cadets will play fellow ICC schools. Last season, the Lady Cadets and Cardinal Ritter played a great game that ended in a 1-0 victory for Cardinal Ritter. The loss to Cardinal Ritter was the only conference loss for the Cadets last season. As the Lady Cadets work their way up to their toughest part of their season in a couple of weeks, the upcoming conference games against Cardinal Ritter, Monrovia, Triton Central, and Scecina Memorial are not overlooked. In the past seasons, this stretch of conference games has helped provide great feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of the girls soccer team. One of the strengths for the Lady Cadets soccer team this season is an amazing group of players who has shown to give everything to win a game. The easiest weakness to notice is the small roster of players on the team but this weakness is not something that can not be practiced or unlearned by the players. With some unfortunate injuries in Tuesday night’s game, the Lady Cadets were left with only one full sub for the entire game against Cardinal Ritter and the coaches needed to move some players around to maximize the talents of the team. As the coaches moved players to maximize the defensive unit, all of the players accepted the new emphasis and played a great first half. The team’s starting goalie, freshman Zoey Wyneken, played her best game of the year with her aggressive play clearing the soccer ball from the penalty box. All of the defensive players used excellent ball control to frustrate and limit many of the Cardinal Ritter attacking formations. Unfortunately, the Lady Cadets faced another amazing defensive team that limited the Cadets offensive rhythm. Cardinal Ritter’s starting center back was gifted with the talent to run from sideline to sideline and cover the entire field to snuff out the Cadet’s ball movement. Anna Burns, Taylor Trusty, Alexa Rodriguez, Trinity Reitzel and Grace Trump did their best effort to keep the soccer ball in front of the Cardinal Ritter goalie but just couldn’t find the right pass or shot to move the ball into the back of the net. Almost the entire first half was played in the midfield as the Lady Cadets and Lady Raiders moved the ball back and forth with crisp attacks that would end with the defensive units winning the ball back. The halftime came with the score tied 0-0. In the second half, the Lady Cadets made a small positional change as an effort to split up the Cardinal Ritter defensive group. This change did create some new attacking groups and helped spread the width of the soccer field, but no strong shot ever threatened the Ritter goal. For the Cadets defense, the second half brought another strong effort. Caitlyn Russell, Ava Cook, Ainsley Engel, Laura Cameron, Katie Guetig, and Emily Nava disrupted nearly every Ritter offensive sequence. Once the Cadets would win the ball back, they did a great job looking up the field to start the offensive attack and take the pressure off of an exhausted team. Despite the Herculean effort of the entire team, the Lady Cadets did yield a goal in the second half that couldn't be matched in the waning minutes of the game and the game ended in a 1-0 victory for the Lady Raiders. As the end of the game handshakes took place, the Cardinal Ritter Head Coach asked to address the Lady Cadets and graced the team with words of admiration and respect for their effort. The Lady Cadets loss moves their record to 2-3 (1-1 ICC) and the Lady Raiders are now 1-2 (1-1 ICC). The next Cadets game will be on Tuesday, August 30th when they host fellow ICC member and local rival Monrovia. The game is scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m. and is part of a boy/girl doubleheader for the night. Game Summary Cascade 0 - 0 0 Cardinal Ritter 0 - 1 0