The Lady Cadets Soccer team hosted the Danville Lady Warriors for their tenth game of the season. Coming into tonight’s game, the Lady Cadets’ record on the season stands at 4-4-1 and the Lady Warriors’ record stands at 6-3-1. Last season, Danville defeated Cascade 2-0. The Lady Warriors entered tonight’s game with the Cadets on a three game winning streak that has helped build their confidence coming into this non-conference game. The Warriors have dominated the Lady Cadets in girls soccer historically with only one loss and one tie in all the games that have been played between these Hendricks County schools. Despite the lopsided history of this rivalry, the Cadets and Warriors have played good games in the past two meetings that have helped the Cadets gain momentum for the IHSAA tournament. Tonight’s meeting continued this recent trend of a good game but reflected the historical pattern of a Lady Warrior victory. The Warriors were able to dominate the possession of the ball for the whole game but the Cadets did an excellent job limiting the offensive opportunities for the Warriors in the attacking 1/3rd of the field. As the Warriors would pass the ball around the field, the Cadets maintained their defensive position and found ways to poke or dislodge the ball from the Warriors and quickly counter attack up the field. This strong counter attack helped the Cadets score their first and only goal of the game. With just under 26:00 remaining on the game clock, the Cadets had won the ball back around the midfield position and Anna Burns was awarded a free kick toward the Danville goal. Anna struck the ball well but it fell short of the goal and was bounced back and forth between the Cascade and Danville players. As the ball squirted back toward the sideline, Anna was able to recover the loose ball and pass the ball to Grace Trump who played an excellent one touch pass right back to Anna who shot the ball toward the Warriors goal. Anna’s second shot on goal was much closer than her first one about 15 seconds earlier and the ball ricocheted off the Danville defensive player’s leg and into the goal. Because the ball came off the defensive player, the goal is noted as an “own goal” but the Cadets get the point on the scoreboard and Anna Burns was credited for the shot on target. This 0-1 deficit for the Lady Warriors energized their attack for about 10:00 but the Cadets still held their strong defensive position at the top of the defensive 1/3rd and continually frustrated the offensive action. With the ball still holding just above the defensive line of the Cadets, the Warriors were awarded a direct kick from about 30 yards out. This stop in play allowed the Warriors to gain a breath and take a basic shot that they had frequently practiced. The direct kick taken by the defensive center back sailed perfectly toward the goal and slid just under the crossbar to even the score at 1-1. The first half ended in a 1-1 tie and both teams felt good with their first half play. The second half resembled the first half with the Warriors dominating time of possession and keeping the soccer ball in the Lady Cadets half of the field but still finding few chances to score the tie breaking goal. But good teams will find good chances to score if you give them enough opportunities. The game turned for the Lady Warriors fortune when the Cadets failed to clear the ball out of their defensive 1/3rd and the Warriors were able to pass the ball cleanly into the center of the field. The shot that was taken couldn’t be considered stellar, or even the best shot that this player took in the game, but it did have enough height to clear the defensive line as well as the Cascade goalie to double the Danville score. As Danville took the lead in the game and the Cadets started to look completely exhausted, the obvious worry for the Cadet coaches was could the Cadets keep their fight up for the rest of the game. The answer was a resounding “YES”! The Lady Cadets fought as hard as they could for the rest of the game to continually limit Danville’s offensive capabilities. The game ended in a 2-1 victory for Danville High School but both teams walked off the field on Thursday night feeling pleased with their effort. With the loss, the Lady Cadets record falls to 4-5-1 and the Lady Warriors are now 7-3-1. The next game for the Cadets will be on Monday, September 19th when they host the Lady Mounties from Southmont High School. The game is scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m. and is part of a boy/girl doubleheader. This game is scheduled to include our Senior Night activities. Game Summary Cascade 0 - 1 1 Danville 1 - 1 2 Goals: 1H 25:10 OG Danville (Shot by Anna Burns)