Battling to a 0-0 tie in the first half and allowing an early goal in the second, the Tenino girls soccer team needed some dramatics and timely plays to defeat Eatonville on the road Tuesday, 2-1.
Having some trouble finding the last pass, the Beavers just could not crack the scoreboard until picking up steam when the Cruisers struck first in the 54th minute.
Not panicking, a Kami Oliveira free kick sailed toward the Cruiser keeper and was parried out wide to the right, and eventually Cheyenne Rossow came up with the ball on the end line and fired it back to the six, where Paisley Garcia calmly fired the equalizer in the 66th.
With minutes remaining, the Beavers produced another free kick set piece opportunity, this time with no chance at a shot, Oliveira put it right in front of the box, and it found Nicole Fralick’s foot for the go-ahead game-winner in the 78th.
“I think Nicole wanted it more than anyone else did,” Beavers coach Dave Montgomery said. “She toe punted it from two feet away and gave us that winning goal.”
The win speaks to the resiliency of a Beaver team that is a bit banged up, and dropped both of its first league games to now move to 2-2 in league play.
“This is such a huge win for us,” Montgomery said. “It really shows that we can overcome a setback during the course of a game, we could’ve easily given up after that goal on us, and gone home sad on the bus. The girls dug deep and realized that there was a whole lotta game left to be played.”
The Beavers will look to keep it rolling as they hit the second half of their league schedule and take on Montesano on the road Thursday.
