School sports highlights: Teams on road last week

The La Conner High School Lady Braves brought their ‘A’ game to the soccer pitch Saturday.

Actually, they brought their better than ‘A’ game.

Lydia Grossglass took a well-placed pass from Kendall Lee to break a scoreless tie and forge a thrilling 1-0 La Conner non-league triumph at 1A Sultan, taking the sting out of twin 5-0 setbacks earlier in the week to Friday Harbor and at North Mason.

“I’m so proud of the team for performing at such a high level with back-to-back-to-back away games,” Lady Braves coach Maddie Huscher said after her charges secured the hard-fought road win.

“The girls have become such a stronger team in the past couple of months,” added Huscher. “They’re learning to read the game, be patient when defending and to look up while dribbling to find amazing passes.”

Huscher stressed that there was “lots of learning” in the team’s three matches.

She said the loss at NW2B/1B rival Friday Harbor was an improved showing over their prior meeting, an 8-0 home defeat in September.

Huscher praised the work in goal by goal keeper Josi Straathof at Friday Harbor.

“She was aggressive coming out for the ball and diving to save the ball,” said Huscher.

Straathof did so despite having sustained a knee injury during the match.

“But she stayed strong for the team and played the rest of the game,” Huscher said of Straathof.

The Lady Braves shook off a sluggish start at 2A North Mason to keep the hosts off the scoreboard after halftime.

“Our players went out there and just had fun playing the game they love with their teammates,” said Huscher, “and it showed in how they performed during the second half.”

La Conner resumes its non-conference away schedule tomorrow (Thursday) at 1A Nooksack Valley.

Boys soccer

The boys’ soccer squad looks to rebound this week after dropping a hard-fought 4-2 league home test with Orcas Island. The Braves are at Auburn Adventist tomorrow and visit NW2B/1B Coupeville on Friday.

Coach Galen McKnight told the Weekly News that his club has much to build on off the match with Orcas, a perennial small school soccer power.

Lane Tenborg and Jarrett Hatch each scored for La Conner against the Vikings, with Corran Eisen assisting on both goals.

Hadden Zimmerman and goalkeeper Tyler Cicotte were La Conner’s defensive standouts.

“They both held the Orcas strikers in check for most of the game,” McKnight said. “Tyler was tested a lot during this game and came up with some big saves.”

The Braves, 1-4 in league and 3-7 overall, have played close matches all season but have fallen short in the late going, noted McKnight.

“We’ve been equal with all the teams we’ve been playing,” McKnight said, “but we’re struggling finishing in the final third.”

Football

The opposite has been true of the football team, whose pattern has been to finish strong after slow starts. That was the case again Friday for the Braves (0-3 in league, 1-5 overall), who fell behind 37-0 in the first half at Friday Harbor enroute to a 44-6 conference loss.

“If we play an entire game like we have played the last few second halves we can have some great success,” said Braves head coach Charlie Edwards.

“Our coaches,” Edwards said, “made some great adjustments at the half.”

C.J. Edwards ran for the lone touchdown and Kenai Zimmerman led a Braves ground attack that picked up steam after the break. Despite wet conditions, La Conner quarterback Ivory Damien passed well, also.

Defensively, Marlon Edwards enjoyed a solid outing.

The team hosts Coupeville Friday.

Volleyball

The high school volleyball team has established a pattern of its own, using tough losses to foes from larger enrollment schools to prepare for the NW2B/1B title race. That was the case last week when the Lady Braves fell at 4A Glacier Peak but improved to 6-0 in league standings with a straight-sets victory over Darrington.

“The girls showed up and played really hard against Glacier Peak even though we didn’t get the win,” said La Conner head coach Pam Keller. “Every week we improve and gain confidence.”

La Conner was at home last night with the 3A Marysville Getchell Lady Chargers for the annual Dig Pink fundraiser and Senior Night celebration. Their next league game is Thursday at Friday Harbor.

“Playing bigger teams is what’s preparing us for league matches,” Keller insisted.