Trojan girls’ fall 2-1 to Panthers

The Fairfield girls' soccer team fell 3-1 Thursday night to visiting Mt. Pleasant, dropping their record to 3-5 overall and 2-3 in Southeast Conference play.

'We're trying to work on being aggressive,” said Trojan skipper Brittany Winslow, 'and honestly I figured they would be too, because they chose the wind at their advantage to start the game and most people want that in the second half.”

Scoring

The Trojan defense held their foes scoreless for the first 30 minutes when Kaela Welcher put back a rebound for the games' first goal in the 31st minute.

'Liz [Litchfield] had a really good shot on goal and I just followed up and tapped it in,” described the Panther junior. 'She made it really easy.”

Just seven minutes lates in the 38th minute, Mt. Pleasant struck again.

'We had a really good build up in the back and we ended up getting a through ball to me,” explained Panther senior Mary West. 'Our wings were making really great runs, so I found Anna [Ostby] and she looked up and saw me directly in the middle, so she had a really easy layoff and I just had a great opportunity to give it a one touch and just hit it right away. I was a couple steps outside of the 18 box. We knew with the wind we could take shots from farther aways because it would help carry it there. So, I told our people up top, take the shots because I have confidence that we can crash and put it away if it doesn't go in.”

With the score 2-0 in favor of Mt. Pleasant at halftime, the Trojans needed to respond and they were able to just 7:46 into the second half when junior Mahayla Mellott found classmate Emily McAvan to cut the deficit in half.

'I know we had gotten an advantage of some sort,” explained Mellott. 'It was that ping-pong moment when everyone is crowded together and we're pushing back and forth and the ball went to where I just happened to be standing and I went for it and didn't quite get it to Emily [McAvan] but she was ready for it.”

'I just kind of lifted my foot up to deflect it and just barely got it,” admitted McAvan.

Even with momentum on their side, the Trojans couldn't hold Mt. Pleasant who added a third goal just four minutes later by senior Liz Litchfield, who had assisted on the first goal of the game.

'To be honest, all I remember is running down and setting the ball and kicking it as hard as I can and hoping for a tap in from one of my teammates if it didn't go in and then the wind hit it and it went in.”

Next

Fairfield will travel to Fort Madison Tuesday and Oskaloosa on Thursday.