Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

DOVER - The Western Boone girls soccer team has been steadily improving since the season started a couple of weeks ago. But they still aren't a finished product. So while they did some good things, especially defensively, against Tri-West on Tuesday night, the Bruins were able to capitalize on a couple of WeBo mistakes in a 3-0 win. "We have the athleticism and the talent on the field, that when we play defense the way we can, we can shut out any team in the conference," Western Boone head coach Shane Steimel said. "When we play well we can do that. They were throwing everything they could at us in the first half, and we had them a little frustrated. We gave up a penalty kick and a corner kick, then allowed a long-range shot - it was just a physical mistake and then a couple of things that didn't go our way." Tri-West did have the bulk of possession in the first half, but were unable to break through the Western Boone defense. Sophomore goalkeeper Cora Somers made six saves in the first half, and is one of several underclassmen contributing to the Stars. "She has been playing great," Steimel said. "She has an excellent attitude and is a soccer junkie. I love having her as our keeper. We have some other girls pushing her in practice, which is great too. She still makes some mistakes, but she is learning every game." The scored was tied 0-0 at the half, but Tri-West scored off a corner kick with 31:53 left to take a lead. "They run excellent set pieces," Steimel said. "They have strong girls and they put it in dangerous spots. We knew it was going to be a tall task to keep them scoreless, but we didn't stop competing after that. We kept them off the board for another 20 minutes before we had a mistake that led to their second goal. The girls did a great job of competing today." The Bruins added a second goal with 16:35 left before tacking on a penalty kick with 5:45 to play in the game. Western Boone travels to Sheridan on Thursday before hosting Lebanon next Tuesday. "We have a tough stretch coming up with Sheridan, Lebanon and Danville," Steimel said. "We played better defensively than offensively today. Our possession has been really good the previous four halves we played. Today I think we were a little too much on the back foot. I think we showed them an appropriate amount of respect, but when we got the ball we didn't connect like we had been. We have to make sure that when we get a couple shots, that we finish them." Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.