2B COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL OCTOBER 3, 2018
Weybright’s hat trick lifts Lions
Cottage Grove girls’ soccer
improve to 2-0 in league play
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
After finishing a game out of the playoffs
a season ago, the Cottage Grove girls soc-
cer team showed Elmira – and the rest of
the Sky-Em league – that they have added
something to their game this year: confi-
dence. It was on display Tuesday night as
the Lions got off 26 shots in a 4-0 home
victory against Elmira.
“Feels better than last season because I
couldn’t really shoot last season because I
was really not confident,” said sophomore
Sawyer Weybright who scored three goals
on the day. “This season, like, our team
went in thinking we could actually do it
and so it gave me a lot more confidence to
actually shoot the ball and so it feels really
good.”
It was Weybright’s third hat trick of the
season.
In the first half, it was Cottage Grove (4-
3-1) taking firm control of possession as
Elmira (3-3-1) struggled to keep up. The
Lions kept the ball in the attacking third
and found the back of the net in the 12th
minute behind a well-placed corner kick
from Payton Cameron that ricocheted into
the goal off an Elmira defender.
As the Falcons backline began to step up
to stymie opportunities, it was Weybright
following up a shot that was blocked for
her first score of the game in the 26th min-
ute.
Elmira’s opportunities were few and far
between but were the result of the speed
of attacking midfielder Kennady Laing.
Without support from teammates out
front, the Cottage Grove defense continu-
ally shut down the chance or goalie Irene
Nichols-Ferguson would come up with a
save. The Falcons had just four shots and
attempted no corner kicks the day.
“I’m feeling great, we finally capitalized
on the goals. Proud of them for just finding
their teammates and actually slowing down
the ball and distributing the ball well. Just
proud of them,” said Cottage Grove head
coach Reed Levings.
In the opening half hour of the second
half the Lions continued to put pressure
PHOTO BY JADEN DOOLITTLE/CGHS PHOTOGRAPHY
Cottage Grove’s Chanel Leach fights for
possession during Tuesday’s game.
on but were unable to break through for a
goal. But in the 68th minute when the Li-
ons worked the ball down the left side of
the attack to Weybright who shot from in-
side the 18 for a goal.
In the final five minutes, Weybright
again found the back of the net, this time,
in unconventional fashion. After an Elmira
defender passed the ball back to their goal-
ie who proceeded to pick it up after being
put under pressure from Cottage Grove,
the Lions, after confusion about whether
the would get a penalty kick or not, were
awarded an indirect free kick inside the
18. The Falcons then used nearly the whole
team to line up shoulder-to-shoulder to
create a wall in front of the goal.
“Our team has never practiced that or
anything so we didn’t really know what to
do so (Leticia Hernandez) just told me she
was going to drop it to me and I was going
to shoot it and I guess it kind of worked,”
said Weybright who snuck the ball in right
under the crossbar and in the goal.
With the victory, the Lions improved to
2-0 in Sky-Em league play.
“The expectations are just higher this
year. A chance for a league title is open this
year. So just higher expectations and keep
improving every day,” said Levings. “Just
setting the bar higher every time. So know
that we can’t settle, we’ve got to keep work-
ing at it.”
The Lions, ranked 14th in 4A, are tied at
the top of the league standings with 10th
ranked Marist. The Spartans, carrying a
+28-goal differential on the year, will visit
Cottage Grove on Thursday (Oct. 3).
FOOTBALL from B1
with just under two minutes to
play in the third quarter.
The Lions were down but not
out yet. Cottage Grove put to-
gether a 68-yard drive that fin-
ished with freshman Fernando
Giffen scoring on the ground
from a yard out. After a suc-
cessful two-point conversion
– Graves to Dunn – the Lions
were down three with 9:33 to
play. Graves finished the game
22-of-34 for 214 yards with two
touchdowns and one intercep-
tion.
On the ensuing drive, the
Spartans, facing 3rd and 11,
came up big with a 31-yard
reception. Marist capitalized
on the drive with a Campbell
touchdown.
“[Cottage Grove coaching
staff] did a great job because
they had kids out. We have kids
out, that’s football…but they
had more out than we did,” said
Geske. “And they got their kids
to play real hard that were back-
ups. Real hard until it got to be
too many guys going both ways
for them. That was the deal.”
The Lions put together one
final push but a fumble inside
the Marist five with under four
minutes to play sealed their fate.
Now a game under .500, the
Lions prepare for Elmira (4-1).
In league-play the Falcons fell
to Marist two weeks ago 15-2
and beat Junction City (0-4) last
Friday 50-6. With two league
games left, Roberts had a simple
message for his team.
“Well, it’s pretty easy going
forward because next week
against Elmira is essentially,
now every week is essential-
ly win or go home within the
league games. The chances are,
most likely our third-place team
will get in,” he said. “But I don’t
think our fourth-place team
will. So we don’t have much of a
choice. We have to suck it up, get
better in a hurry and get ready
to take on Elmira.”
Dylan Graves scrambles for a first down against Marist.
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10/4
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6:30 p.m. Volleyball @ Marshfield 6:00 p.m. Volleyball vs. UVC
6:30 p.m. Boys Soccer @ Marist
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7:00 p.m. Girls Soccer vs. Marist
7:00 p.m. Football vs. Yoncalla
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7:00 p.m. Football vs. Elmira
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6:30 p.m. Volleyball @ Elmira
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7:00 p.m. Girls Soccer vs. Marshfield
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