It was the worst possible combination for the Aberdeen Central girls’ soccer team on Saturday morning at Brownell Activities Complex.
A tired Golden Eagles squad was matched up against fast, fresh Rapid City Stevens unit. The Raiders set the tone early and collected a 3-0 non-conference victory.
Unlike Central, which played Friday night and had to play less than 16 hours later, Stevens ended up not having a game and hit the pitch running, scoring two goals in the first 20 minutes of the game.
“Stevens didn’t play (Friday). Their game got postponed. They haven’t played all week, so they were rested, ready to go. We played and had to come back less than 24 hours rest and play. So we’re a little tired,” said Central coach Merle Aske. “We could have probably played a little better in the first half. Two of their goals we probably could have prevented, but that’s just kind of the way soccer is. Your schedule is your schedule. You can’t rely on what the other teams are doing.”
What complicated things is the Raiders have stellar team speed, which was magnified against Central’s tired legs.
“We always want to show up and still work our best,” said Central captain Paige Ewalt, “and I think we did for the most part, it’s just fatigue hits us half way through. We just have to keep our head up and just keep working.”
The Raiders consistently outraced Central to the 50-50 balls and denied the Golden Eagles from obtaining many scoring chances. While Central tried to win the possession battle, the majority of the action ended up being in front of the Golden Eagles goal.
“We got to do a better job of bringing the ball. We talked about it,” Aske said. “They play a different formation from a lot of other teams. We just got to do a better job of getting the ball forward. Our passes when we’re coming out, we might connect one or two, but then we lose possession too quickly.”
Stevens used its speed and quickness to keep pressure on the Golden Eagles defense.
Ewalt, a key member of Central’s back line defense, talked about the challenges of facing a team like Stevens.
“We’re just on our toes shifting, always ready to receive. We practice all the time like stepping up, backing up,” Ewalt said. “I think our outside backs definitely work hard a majority of the time, especially today with the give and goes, just constant give and goes.”
In the end, Central appeared to be a bit heavy legged after a hard-fought win over Rapid City Central Friday night and Stevens took advantage.
“We kind of rely on this weekend, because we know we play back-to-back, we know we’re going to be on short rest, but we kind of rely on the other team is going to be in the same boat,” Aske said, “and that realistically just didn’t happen, which is unfortunate, but it is what it is.”
And against one of the state’s top teams, the Golden Eagles couldn’t afford to make many mistakes against the high-powered Raiders.
“When we get our chances we have to finish them, especially in a game like this when you’re playing a really fast team,” Aske said. “When you’re in the attacking third, you got to finish your shots, or get a shot, because if we turn the ball over at the wrong place, we’re going to be chasing, it’s going to be hard to catch. I think they’re probably the fastest team in the state.”
Central, 2-3 on the season, has managed just six goals in those five games. Producing a few more goals would give the team a boost, according to Ewalt.
“If we can get some goals, that just automatically turns our team on to just keep working and moving forward from it,” Ewalt said.
The Golden Eagles play at Huron on Tuesday and host Brandon Valley at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Aske said the team just needs to just trust the process and things will fall into place the second half of the season.
“Like I told the girls, we just have to have faith in what we’re doing and believe that it’s coming,” Aske said. “It will come by the end of the year. We just need to keep working and getting better, and hopefully these next couple of weeks we get things moving in the right direction.”
Rapid City Stevens 3 1 – 4
Aberdeen Central 0 0 – 0
First Half: 1, RCS, Ava Holzwarth, 18th minute; 2, RCS, Holzwarth, 19th minute; 3, RCS, Zoe Rabe, 35th minute.
Second Half: 4, RCS, Vienna Reagan, 46th minute.
Goalies: Rapid City Stevens, Norah Tucker (8 saves); Aberdeen Central, Ava Beck (13 saves).
Shots: Rapid City Stevens, 28 shots 16 on goal; Aberdeen Central, 11 shots, 3 on goal.
