Homer, Alaska - Sports - Girls drop game to Kards, 6-1 04/30/08

Story last updated at 8:47 PM on Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Girls drop game to Kards, 6-1

By MATTHEW CARROLL
Morris News Service - Alaska

Kenai coach Dan Verkuilen would have had his team going against the wind in the first half had the Kardinals won the coin toss.

It's a good thing they lost it then.

Two goals in the opening five minutes of play, one each by Holly Perkins and Casey Coupchiak, both aided by the wind, though, set the stage for a 6-1 win over visiting Homer on Tuesday in Northern Lights Conference Southern Division girls soccer action.

"That's the thing, you always have wind on these fields. So, you're always dealing. You take shots," he said, adding the Mariners won the coin toss. "And I would have chose it the other way. We usually go into (the wind) first because it usually gets worse come evening. But (Tuesday) it's been pretty stagnant."

The Kardinals' (2-0) offense certainly wasn't.

Perkins' goal, the first of two for the junior transfer from Soldotna, came in just the second minute of play when she beat her defender down the right sideline and sent what appeared to be a cross toward the goal. But the ball somehow managed to sail over the head of Homer goalkeeper Morgan Stewart and into the net for an early lead.

"She's a heck of an athlete," Verkuilen said. "But you don't do it by yourself. She has a good compliment of kids around her. So, they're going to create opportunities for her and put her in position to do it. It's one of those players you can put anywhere you want and she's going to do it for you."

Three minutes later Coupchiak lofted a shot from well beyond the 18-yard line which carried over Stewart for a 2-0 cushion only five minutes into the game.

"The one big thing is we have really strong legs this year from a lot of positions, and one thing we really talked about was taking shots from 30 yards instead of trying to get inside of everything," he explained.

"Those first two goals were shots from 20 yards or more out and they went in and it sucks the defense out. It was nice to see that they were able to do some of that."

Junior Kaylee Grant made it 3-0 in the 20th minute when she converted on a penalty kick after a Homer player was whistled for using her hands in the box. Perkins then helped send the Kardinals into halftime with a 4-0 advantage when she sidestepped her defender along the end line and sent a beautiful cross into the middle to senior Becca Ford, who calmly trapped the ball and tapped it past Stewart in injury time.

Kenai didn't let up in the second half, either, as junior Shelby Daly placed a perfect ball through the Mariners' defense to a streaking Perkins, who easily rifled it into the back netting in the 47th minute. And after Homer (1-1) netted its first goal when Teal Laukitis crossed the ball into the middle, where Marin Lee ran through Kenai goaltender Lacie Wortham to poke the ball into the net, Kardinals senior Danika Summer capped the scoring in the 64th minute when she took advantage of a scrum in the box and slipped the ball into the net.

"We came out really flat," said Mariner Head Soccer Coach Mickey Todd. "We were playing on our heels and kind of disorganized in the backfield."

Todd also gave some credit to the home team.

"Kenai's tough," he said. "they got a good core group of kids and a strong transition game."

The Mariners play at Nikiski today, Houston Friday and Wasilla Saturday.

Matt Carroll is a reporter for the Peninsula Clarion

Homer News reporter Ben Stuart contributed to this report.

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