By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SILVERTON, Ore.–  The Silverton Girls Soccer team didn’t back down to the aggressive style of Springfield.  They rose to the challenge and battled.

The Foxes went to the second half leading 1-0 off a Lilly Miller PK goal.  Silverton pushed tempo offensively, put foot to ball and rubbed shoulders with the Miller’s in their rallies back to the Foxes goal.  Sophomore goalie Ella Lulich was stellar in net to keep the Springfield attack at bay in Thursday night’s 1-1 tie at McGinnis Field.  Her defense backed her up with Silverton getting a true test of physicality and that mental test their first game out, the Millers third game of the year.

“I think this was a huge step and playing with older girls is insane, but it was a ton of fun and I really enjoyed it.  I’m really excited to start the season,” said Miller, a freshman.  “It was long and it was exhausting, but I think we stood our ground.  Springfield had two more games on us and we did pretty good.”

The Millers kept chipping away at the strong defensive front as Springfield made the Foxes runs more and more fewer coming down to the final whistle.  Eventually tying it up at one with about ninety seconds remaining in the game.

Frustrated, Silverton made sure that was the only goal they surrendered.as they closed out the game strongly.  You saw the pain and frustration on the faces of the Foxes squad, but they didn’t hang their heads knowing that they hung with a good team in a physically and mentally demanding game.

From working on conditioning and working on sharpening their skills with the season officially underway as they’ll host Thurston Tuesday evening back at McGinnis Field at 7pm.

“I don’t think they fully understood until this game how great of a team that they are and the talent that they have.  It opened their eyes  today to see what they can do and I think moving forward, there’s not going to be a team that’s going to stop us.  I believe in this team,” said first-year Head Coach Renee Cantrell.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald