Lady Kickers headed back to the field under the bright sun and cold wind on Monday afternoon.
After the season opener ended in a loss to Waterford Kettering, 1-0, practice would serve as the place to work on a few techniques.
“We did some good things at times,” said Sarah Wasilk, head coach for the Clarkston Girls Varsity Soccer team.
“We moved the ball well at times,” she added about offense. “We seemed a little tentative to attack. A lot of times when we would start to attack we would start to feel the pressure. We would often instead of taking somebody on one-on-one we would pass backwards. Kettering was putting a lot of pressure on us so we would lose the ball. They would zero in on us. Credit to them, they put a lot of pressure on us from the beginning.”
Both teams remained scoreless in the first half of the game. Within the first few minutes of the game, Kettering took their first shot on the net.
Junior Katie Miller was ready in the net and caught it, sending it back onto the field.
Clarkston had an advantage with 24:44 left in the first half when a Kettering player received a yellow card and was sent off the field.
The ball was positioned in front of the net as senior Caitlyn Kirby and the goalie headed off. Kirby took a moment before pulling her right leg back and connecting it to the ball. The ball sailed to the right side of the net as the goalie reached out and stopped it.
The ball went lose onto the field and Clarkston players moved forward to make another shot on the net. The ball went out of bounds to end the play.
Kettering took over control of the ball and headed into the Lady Wolves’ turf.
Senior middle defender Sarah McCallum cut in front of Kettering, stopping their run and taking possession of the ball.
“She had a great game,” Wasilk added. “She really came through for us in a lot of sticky situations.”
The game heated up in the last few minutes of the first half as Kettering tried to make another go at the net. McCallum blocked them a few times and Miller saved a shot on the net.
The second half was evenly matched but Kettering made it past defense to score.
“We weren’t stepping to the ball as fast as we should be,” Wasilk added. “They were able to make some shots on goal that they probably shouldn’t have gotten.”
Miller saved 12 shots in the net. The Lady Wolves made three shots on the goal.
“Katie made some great saves,” Wasilk said.
The Lady Wolves head to Royal Oak on Thursday before they head into spring break.
“They have some good returner,” she said. “It is going to be tough competition. It always is. Those are always close games and could go either way.”
JV begins at 5:30 p.m., varsity follows.