ARGOS — When opportunity knocks you have to answer and Culver Academies girls soccer team did just that in a win over Argos 5-1.
While the Academy didn’t overwhelm the Argos defense they did capitalize on every opportunity they were given.
“Every mistake we made they capitalized on,” said Argos coach Joe Stone. “That is what good teams do. (CGA coach) Nate (King) is a great coach. He graduated 12 seniors and comes back with a great team this year. Our girls just need to keep working hard.”
“It’s always tough playing Argos because they are direct and they are hungry because of the rivalry,” said King. “We got beat by this same score at Crown Point and our goal coming out was we kind of crumbled because we couldn’t match their intensity and directness but we were able to stay focused and have a strong second half.”
The Eagles passing was strong all night and played a key part in the win.
“We have a clear idea of how we want to play and it’s not always going to work but in the second half we began to wear them down a little with passing the ball,” said King. “The ball moves quicker than anyone on the field and it’s about getting that through their brains and hopefully the winning helps with the confidence and belief in what we are trying to do.”
“We had too many letdowns tonight,” said Stone. “It was a well-played game by both teams. They worked the ball better than we did there was no doubt about that but we’ve come a long way. Our girls get down on themselves when we give up some early goals and they get frustrated and don’t play their game.”
The big difference in the game was the play of Culver’s Samantha Hazen who used her speed and the Eagles passing attack to provide most of the offense for the night. The Academy senior had three of the Eagle goals.
“When Sam is on she’s on she’s always a threat,” said King. “Hats off to (Argos keeper Alyssa Poisel) she pulled off some really good saves. My advice to Sam is to just keep plugging away. When you are forward you are going to miss a lot more than you get. Her reward was she kept working hard and she got three.”
“They play long ball and we struggled to defend that tonight,” said Stone. “We are young but the key is to keep focused and make sure the girls stay focused and not worry about losing hard games like this and get ready for the next one.”
The Dragons are 3-4 and hit the road to take on Eastbrook Saturday morning. CGA now stands at 2-3 and will take on Valparaiso next Thursday.
