Highland upends Washington

RIVERSIDE - Last year it didn't happen until the sixth match of the year. Two years ago it didn't happen until the second to last match of the year.

This year it happened in the first match of the year, a victory by the Highland High School soccer team.

The Huskies took a 3-2 victory over Washington Thursday in the home nonconference match.

Alex Cruz is the new head coach at Highland and he secured a victory in his first match at the helm.

'It feels amazing to get that first win as a head coach,” he said. 'I love it, it is the beginning of something good.”

Highland sophomore Owen Donovan put the Huskies on the board first with 20 minutes, 35 seconds left in the first half when he got a rebound goal.

'Jordan Sosa drove it towards the goal and shot it off of the goalie's face and I was able to put in with my left foot,” Donovan said. 'It felt good get the first goal of the year. I thought it was great to see our strikers do something with it.”

'Getting the first goal was a huge confidence booster for us,” Cruz said. 'I think we needed it because it let the boys know that what we have been working on is going to work and that we can do something this year. In the past, we have been kind of shaky, but the kids are past that and to put one in to start the game was real important.”

Washington tied it up before intermission.

David Rees ran down a through ball from Caleb Suchan and blasted a shot from 30 yards out on the right wing to make it 1-1 with 2:19 left in the first half.

Donovan notched his second goal just 4 minutes into the seond half for a 2-1 lead.

'I got a good run and dinked it in off the right post,” Donovan said.

He scored two goals all of last year as a freshman and equalled that total in less than 45 minutes as a sophomore.

'We got a good coach who is going to take us places,” Donovan said. 'The defense was strong and it showed that we have a strong team now.

'Last year our team was mopey. It was gloomy. None of us really worked as a team. We were disorganized and we never really did any of that kind of discipline until Alex came. We support each other now and give each other credit for what we are doing. That makes us feel good which makes us play good.”

It took just over a minute for the Demons to knot the score at 2-2.

Suchan controlled the ball and fed it to Garrett Ikerd who gave the assist on the goal by Fabian DeJesus. DeJesus lofted the ball just high enough to clear the outstretched hands of a jumping Cory Stewart in goal, but soft enogh that it came down inside the net.

With 19:45 remaining in the match, Donovan took a shot in the box that rebounded to Ramses Vergara, who scored for a 3-2 lead.

Although Highland made the lead stand up, the Demons' Cole Anderson got a shot off with 1:30 left that caromed off of the post.

'It is a game of moments,” Washington coach Sally Hart said. 'He was so close. He took the shot that needed to be needed to be taken. It was a nice shot, it just didn't go in. We had plenty of times in the first half where we hit the post or one of our shots just went above the goal. We can play the ‘what if' game, but that's not going to make us better. Today Highland was better.”

'We had a lot of good passing, good movement and the boys worked hard,” Cruz said. 'We played really good as a team. We slid to the right side as a team, we slid to the left side as a team and we let our strikers do what they do to their best.”

Highland hosts Mid-Prairie Monday.

'This feels really good and it feels like it is the beginning of something,” Cruz said. 'Last year we were kind of a young team, I think we had one senior. We have more leaders on the team this year. It is just a completely different way to play when you have that confidence.”

For the Demons, it will require a quick recovery as there are three games next week.

'This was just the first game of the season, but it is always tough to start out this way,” Hart said. 'They outran us. We ran out of steam. We are going to have to pick up our conditioning. We need to get some more guys healthy so we have some more legs. Highland played a good game, so my hat is off to them.”

Washington plays at Iowa City Liberty Monday, plays a Southeast Conference home game against Keokuk Thursday, then hosts Mediapolis Saturday.

'They ought to be tired for prom next weekend,” Hart said.

Washington's coach was actually more concerned about what the loss showed her and what the team will need to focus on at practice.

'We have to work on shooting with our weak feet,” Hart said. 'We can't take the time to set up with our strong foot. Sometimes you have that window of opportunity with the right foot and by the time you set up with your strong foot, that window is gone, so we need to take that shot sooner. We need to make it a little tougher on their goalie. Some of our shots went straight to him. So we have to find those corners and that's what we are going to work on at practice. Hopefully, we will get it ironed out before we have our first conference game next week.”

Washington goal keeper Ben Baughman stopped 15 shots.