Pierre forced Aberdeen Central to play uphill soccer Friday afternoon and the Golden Eagles were never able to make it to the top of the hill at Brownell Activities Complex.

The Governors scored in the first 10 minutes for a lead they never lost on the way to a 3-1 Eastern South Dakota Conference girls’ soccer victory. The visitors added another goal later in the half and then held off Central from there.

“I think in the first half we did a pretty good job of possessing the ball, we just had a couple of breaks there,” said Central coach Merle Aske, “and that’s going to happen in these type of games when things are close and both teams are pretty good.”

Central did not go quietly, though.

Kaylee Donat scored a long-range goal to cut the deficit in half in the 56th minute of the second half.

While the goal, which covered about 25 yards, might have seemed unconventional, it’s something that the senior captain said she works on in practice.

“That’s the kind of shot I take in practice pretty much,” Donat said, “but that’s like the one I’m most comfortable with, like that area.”

That goal seemed to give the Golden Eagles a spark, but they were unable to tie the score before Pierre netted another goal later in the half to help to secure the victory.

“We have to capitalize on the opportunities when they’re there,” Aske said. “When we had some momentum, we just needed to find that second goal somehow.”

Meanwhile, Pierre was able to find the back of the net several times, one on a textbook pass that just got past the Central defense.

“I know for sure the second goal, she just happened to kick it perfectly to go straight in the net,” said Central defender Addyson Keller. “And if it would have been any slower, I was hauling trying to get there as fast I could to save it, but I wasn’t fast enough this time.”

Keller, who plays offense for the Cougars hockey team, talked about the similarities between the two sports.

“I feel like most of the runs are the same, like trying to split people. … With soccer you have more space and more field to open up things so you have more options to go to,” Keller said.

Despite the setback, the Golden Eagles remained upbeat and took a lot of positives away from their season-opening contest.

“Day by day we’re getting better in practice and we’re just like on that learning curve,” Donat said. “I think we did pretty good for our first game, but we can always do better.”

Keller said it’s a matter of getting the offense and defense to play as a unit. She said that doesn’t happen overnight.

“I think overall we connected pretty well as a team and defensively we stayed on our people and didn’t let them have many rushes … We just need to find our footing on the offensive end and it takes time,” Keller said, “and it takes time every year.”

The season will be a work in progress, but Donat likes what she saw from the team in its first action of the year.

“I just think that we need to connect more and talk more, but we’re definitely going to get better,” Donat said. “That’s the goal.”

The Golden Eagles head to Sioux Falls Jefferson for a non-conference game on Tuesday.

Aske said his squad is on the right track, despite the opening setback.

“We looked good,” he said. “Now it’s just a matter of building on what we’re doing.”

Pierre 2 1 – 3

Aberdeen Central 0 1 – 1

First Half: 1, P, Jasmine Jost, 8th minute; 2, P, Katelyn Taylor, 30th minute.

Second Half: 3, AC, Kaylee Donat, 56th minute; 4, P, Natalie Flottmeyer, 70th minute.

Shots: Pierre 19 shots, 11 on goal; Aberdeen Central 14 shots, 6 on goal.

Goalies: Pierre, Emlyn Swanson 5 saves; Aberdeen Central, Ava Beck 8 saves.