Wednesday, March 24, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
5
Scrappy Outlaws work hard on soccer pitch
By Rongi Yost
Correspondent
The Outlaws boys soccer
team has had a strong month,
posting wins before falling
to a tough Stayton Eagles
squad in a final score of
0-8 at Stayton on Thursday,
March 18.
The Eagles have a strong,
balanced, and well-coached
team, and they controlled
the ball from the opening
whistle.
Outlaws goalie Nathaniel
Alvarez was busy much of
the night, and put out great
effort. Stayton had 21 shots
on goal to the Outlaws9 six.
Although the Eagles were
dominant, the Outlaws
kept scrapping and didn9t
give up.
Coach Jeff Hussman said,
<Despite the lopsided result,
there were several oppor-
tunities for growth. The
underclass men have really
stepped up and are helping
to establish the culture of
this team. Everyone is buy-
ing into the program, work-
ing hard, pushing each other
to improve, and having fun
along the way.=
A week earlier, the
Outlaws won both their
games 4 a 1-0 shutout over
the Huskies at Sweet Home
on Tuesday, March 9, and
two days later a 2-1 road vic-
tory over Mountain View.
It took the Outlaws some
time to adjust to the speed
of Sweet Home9s turf field,
but once they did, the mid-
field players did a great job
of maintaining possession of
the ball and building up the
attack in the first half.
Simon Rhett and Aidan
Eckert were consistently
at the core of the work
done in the midfield. Gavin
Christian, Tate Kaczmarek,
and Bryan Reiner also
helped the Outlaws control
possession of the ball.
Sisters only goal came in
the 28th minute when Ricky
Huffman fought hard for an
unassisted goal.
Coach Hussman said,
<Ricky consistently has such
a high work rate and creates
many chances for himself by
just pestering defenders and
winning back the ball.=
The second half was
marked with a steady, chilly
rain that made the play-
ing surface less predictable.
The momentum shifted in
Sweet Home9s favor and the
Outlaws lost the rhythm they
had in the first half.
Sweet Home9s offensive
weapons kept the Outlaw9s
back four (Vince Christian,
Connor Martin, Sean
Alvarez, and Austin Dean)
very busy, and Hussman
was pleased with their
performance.
<These guys played an
outstanding game in mark-
ing their dangerous strikers
and covering for each other,=
said Hussman. <They are
speedy, aggressive and play
smart together.=
The Outlaws also beat 6A
Mountain View in a hard-
fought physical matchup at
home in Sisters. There was
a bit more energy in the air
as families were allowed to
watch the game.
From the start of the first
whistle, it was evident both
teams came ready to play.
The Outlaws knew that
Mountain View would test
their defense, which they
did, but Sisters established
the tone of the match early.
Scoring opportunities
were tough to come by, but
in the 30th minute Huffman
intercepted a pass out of
their defense and scored. A
short time later, a penalty
kick was awarded to the
Cougars, but the shot hit the
post and ricocheted out. At
the half, Sisters held a slim
1-0 advantage.
Mountain View held pos-
session of the ball for the
majority of the second half,
and capitalized with the
game-tying goal with less
than 12 minutes left in the
contest.
Sisters responded with
six minutes left to play.
Gavin Christian made a pass
to Aiden Eckert who found
himself one-on-one with the
goalie. Aiden stayed calm
and composed and poked the
ball into the back of the net
for his first goal of the sea-
son. Sisters went up by one
and held on for the win.
Hussman told The Nugget
that a huge part of the win
and the Outlaws9 success
is the play of senior keeper
Nathaniel Alvarez.
<Nathaniel has such a
solid understanding of what
his job is and is a great
captain on this team,= said
Hussman. <He has a won-
derful sense of humor, but
also has high expectations of
himself and his teammates.
He had several strong saves
and didn9t allow the defense
to lose focus.=
Hussman stated that the
win over Mountain View
was the Outlaws9 biggest win
in the two years he9s been
coaching at Sisters.
<This win felt like a
defining moment for the
character of this team,= said
Hussman. <Energy, trust, and
commitment to a shared pur-
pose is at the cornerstone of
this team.=
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