The Lady Cadets Soccer team hosted the Lady Tigers from Triton Central tonight. Coming into tonight’s game, the Lady Cadets record has fallen to 2-4 and are in the midst of a three game losing streak. Conference losses to Monrova and Cardinal Ritter have dropped the Cadets record to 1-2 in the ICC while the Lady Tigers are 1-0 in the ICC and have a 3-1 win/loss record on the 2022-2023. Last season, the Lady Cadets defeated the Lady Tigers 6-2. For the first six games of the season, the Cadets could separate the games into three clear categories: easy wins, clear defeats, and 50/50 games. The team’s 2-4 record shows that the Cadets had lost the 50/50 games of Cardinal Ritter and Western Boone and needed to do a better job of controlling the ball and getting quality shots on the goal. Tonight’s game with Triton Central was viewed as another 50/50 game where the Cadets needed to improve their overall play to be competitive. The first couple minutes of the game showed that the Lady Cadets were much more focused than on Tuesday night against Monrovia. Much like Monrovia, Triton Central was fortunate to have a very talented attacking player that the Cadets needed to monitor and disrupt her rhythm. It has been stressed repeatedly at practice that the best way to disrupt another team’s offensive rhythm is to create quality ball possessions. With good movement of the ball, the Cadets established a solid passing and offensive rhythm in the first 20:00 that pushed the Lady Tigers deeper into their defensive half. Despite this improved play, the Cadets and Tigers were scoreless until the first goal for the Lady Cadets was scored by Grace Trump. Coming off a great corner kick from Anna Burns, Grace Trump was able to poke the soccer ball into the net after it had settled perfectly in front of the goal. This opening goal for the Cadets was Grace Trump’s fourth goal on the season and Anna Burn’s assist was her third of the season. The 1-0 lead with 20:00 remaining in the first half was the first time in the last three soccer games that the Cadets were leading the opposing team and the Cadets knew that they needed more goals if they were to keep that scenario by the end of the game. The second goal for the Lady Cadets came in an expected play but scored by a surprising player. Mallory Laughlin returned to the starting lineup tonight and provided depth and solid play for the offensive unit. Mallory received the ball out on the right wing and she made two quick moves to get clear of the Triton Central defender. This clear space allowed Mallory to send a solid crossing pass in perfect position in the box. Creedance Chittenden made a well timed run for Mallory’s pass but the ball was lightly deflected by the Triton defender and the ball passed behind Creedance. The goal scoring opportunity for the Cadets seemed lost until Trinity Reitzel adjusted her body position just enough to get a foot onto the ball and the ball lofted into the corner of the net. Trinity’s first goal in her high school career was a surprise and joy for the Cadets. Trinity celebrated with her teammates the 2-0 lead over the Lady Tigers with plenty of time remaining in the game to add some more goals. Frustratingly, those additional goals would first come from the Lady Tigers who cut the lead to 2-1 late in the first half on a Penalty Kick that was shot easily into the back of the net for a goal. The second goal for Triton Central came from an inadvertent play by the Cadets goalie, Zoey Wyneken. Early in the second half, Zoey ran forward and cleanly caught a deep shot taken by the Lady Tigers. However, the ball bounced out of her grasp when it hit her knee with her next stride. To make matters worse, the ball bounced right to the best offensive player that Triton Central had on the field. This bad break for the Cadets goalie and fortunate break for the Lady Tigers are part of sports and the Cadets handled this with great poise. Just as a bad break allowed the Lady Tigers to tie the game, a bad break for the Lady Tigers allowed the Lady Cadets get the game winning goal just a couple of minutes later. The third goal of the game came when Creedance Chittenden made an excellent read of the play in front of her and took advantage of the Triton Central error. Creedance was able to score her eighth goal of the season when Anna Burns won the ball back just above the top of the box and dribbled to set up a lobbed crossing pass. This lob pass is a speciality of Anna’s and the team expects the kick to tail back into the center of the goal. The Triton Central goalie picked up the ball in the air fairly easily but didn’t make any adjustments to catch the pass cleanly and she bobbled the ball in front of her. Creedance jumped at the ball and kneed it into the back of the net for her game winning goal. After Creedance scored the Cadets third goal of the game, 34:11 remained on the game clock and the Cadets knew the game was going to get more intense and physical. With 28 players on their roster, the Lady Tigers were constantly subbing players off and onto the field. At the time the Lady Cadets scored their third goal of the game, they were down to two subs for the team. This has been a reoccurring issue in these early games of the season but the Cadets handled the exhaustion a bit better this game and found ways to work the ball away from the Lady Tigers to eat as much clock as possible. For the last 7:00 of the game, the Lady Cadets had no subs available to put into the game and Triton Central was throwing everything they had at the Cadets trying to score a game tying goal. When the final whistle was blown, there were three Triton Central players lying on the field physically exhausted as they gave everything they had to break the Cadets defense but the score remained Cascade 3 and Triton Central 2. The Lady Cadets win moves their record to 3-4 (2-2 ICC) and the Lady Tigers are now 3-2 (1-1 ICC). The next Cadets game will be on Wednesday, September 7th when they head over to Scecina Memorial High School to play the Lady Crusaders. The game is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. Game Summary Cascade 2 - 1 3 Triton Central 1 - 1 2 Goals: 20:09 Grace Trump (4) A: Anna Burns (3) 14:10 Trinity Reitzel (1) A: Mallory Laughlin (1) 34:11 Credence Chittenden (8)