April 24, 2024

Raiders still finding their way on the pitch

By Troy Hyde

Collins-Maxwell/Baxter goalkeeper Lexi Breon, right, makes one of her 35 saves against North Polk on Tuesday in Maxwell. The Raiders trailed 4-0 at the half and dropped to 0-2 on the year following the 7-0 loss. (Troy Hyde)

MAXWELL — Collins-Maxwell/Baxter girls soccer coach Gary Cummings expects his club to be better at the end of the year than they are at the beginning.

And the first step in completing that season-long process may be to find a way to put more pressure on opposing defenses.

One night after getting outshot 28-0 in a 5-0 loss to Gilbert, the Raiders were outshot 50-3 in another Heart of Iowa Conference loss to North Polk.

Senior goalkeeper Lexi Breon did what she could to keep her team in the match, but the Comets scored 15 minutes into Tuesday’s match and never looked back in a 7-0 win at Sullivan Field.

“They have heart and they are young. Some of these girls have played the game, and some of them haven’t. So we are trying to teach the game of soccer, and it’ll come,” Cummings said. “The fact that they have heart and they don’t give up is good because you can’t teach that stuff.”

Breon finished with 23 saves against Gilbert and prevented 35 attempts against North Polk, but the offense has been shut out through the first 160 minutes of the season.

“(Breon) always does a good job,” Cummings said in reference to his senior keeper. “She played well tonight and last night. She is one of the best keepers around and could start for many teams.”

Sophomore Hannah Becker put North Polk up 1-0 with 25:32 to play in the first half and then Sydnee Wrage made it 2-0 six and a half minutes later.

Those two goals came between a pair of diving stops by Breon. She made another diving save with 50 seconds left in the first half that kept the deficit at 4-0.

The ball rolled to the left corner but just before it got into the goal, Breon swatted it away from the ground.

Joy Smith made it 4-0 with back-to-back goals during a span of more than 4 minutes and Smith completed the hat trick with another goal with 17:25 to go in the game.

Smith’s fourth and final goal came with 16:10 to play and it made it 7-0.

Kate Shoemaker also scored a goal for the Comets, who have begun the season 3-0 overall and 1-0 in HOIC play.

CMB (0-2, 0-2) didn’t have too many chances to score.

Its best opportunity came with 28 minutes to play when West Marshall freshman Tatum Tremain got free in the open field.

Tremain forced the Comet keeper to charge the ball and the two collided just inside the box, but the Raiders couldn’t convert.

“We tried some different spots tonight with the girls and a few of them responded to that well,” Cummings said. “It’s going to be a learning process, I think they all understand that. As long as they don’t give up, we’ll look totally different at the end of the year.”

The learning process continues at 5:30 p.m. Thursday when the Raiders return to their home pitch to face Ballard.