Trojan girls’ soccer fights to the end, falls 2-1

The Trojan girls' soccer team traveled to Mt. Pleasant Thursday for their first round matchup in the Class 2A region 5 bracket, falling to the Panthers 2-1 who will now travel to Pella to face the Little Dutch Tuesday in the semifinals.

'It was a really good year,” said head coach Brittany Winslow after the game. 'These girls made it super enjoyable for me and they all improved. They fought hard here and although we didn't win, there were things we could have done to come out on top but, it is what it is.”

Goals

The pair of Panthers scores came in the 17th and 31st minutes of the contest, giving Mt. Pleasant a 2-0 lead at the half.

'Both of them were on through balls with nice shots,” explained Fairfield keeper, sophomore Trisha Westphal. 'One of them, I went out and she shot around me, but it didn't go in. It hit the post and they had a girl there to finish it. The other one they just had a nice shot on the through ball.”

With 24:14 remaining, senior Bryanna Popejoy took a penalty shot when one of the Trojan attackers was tackled in the box.

'We worked on PKs this week and have shot a lot of them this season,” said Winslow. 'She's been really focused and I thought she was in the zone and I hoped that if she got it in, that it would give us a little bit of momentum.”

Unfortunately, Fairfield was unable to capitalize and they remained a goal down until the final horn.

'We really worked on 1-2 passes and trying to create space,” said Winslow of the teams' preparation for Mt. P. 'The conference was all over the place so we didn't know exactly what to expect.”

Seniors

Coach W on Kara Jeffrey

'She's always been a constant for us and we know that she's back there and we can count on her. This is her first season, but her basketball background relates well to soccer with defensive spacing and transition play. She has long legs and a good foot and she helped us out with a lot of PKs, too.”

Bryanna Popejoy

'I really have to thank her for this year because she's been a fantastic leader for us and she got those girls together stronger than I think I could have alone. Losing her as a leader, I'm really hoping someone steps into that role and brings the team together. She doesn't have the best stats on the team, but she's the one who created the most goal scoring opportunities. She was good at dispersing the ball and if you watch her, she's always creating and sending good through balls, they just didn't always get finished. I just kept reminding her to keep fighting, because without those opportunities, we wouldn't have anything. I only had her for two years and she had the leadership ability last year, it's just hard with seven seniors above you, but she took that leader role in stride and she did excellent.”

While Winslow be back for season 3?

'Soccer has always been my favorite sport and hopefully next year I'll have an assistant coach to kind of help me out. To have an assistant isn't to pick up any work, it's just to have an extra set of eyes there to help. If I'm talking to this person, they can be talking to that person. So, to answer your question, I'm sticking around.”

Next

While the loss dropped Fairfield to 7-7 overall, the Trojans did secure a winning season and improve from their 8-9 record in Winslow's first year. FHS will also return 28 of the 30 girls on the combined varsity and jv rosters with the addition of the incoming freshmen class, as well. One of the key returning leaders will be then-junior goalie Trisha Westphal.

'I'm always back there talking to them and encouraging them and I just try to keep their heads in the game,” said the current 10th grader.

When asked if she was praying to the end, something she frequently does if the team is trailing or she's facing a penalty kick.

'Yeah,” laughed Westphal, 'Always!”