The Rolla High School girls soccer team mounted a charge late, but had it fall a bit short, as the Lady Bulldogs lost 3-2 to Helias at Kiwanis Field Tuesday.
Trailing 3-1 for most of the second half, RHS got a goal from sophomore Olivia Cox with 12 minutes to play and then pressured Helias for most of the time thereafter.
Unfortunately, Rolla never found the back of the net again. Sophomore Katelyn Maddy blasted a ball from an angle at the nine-minute mark, but the Helias keeper was able to block it down. With under two minutes to go, Rolla had a ball nail the left post on a play that started on a free kick by junior Ashley Kerr, but it bounded harmlessly away from the goal.
“With the ball hitting the post, some of other things like that, they are going to have to go our way sooner or later,” RHS head coach Mike Howard said. “It seems like we haven’t gotten a break all year, but if we keep working at it, things will turn in our favor.”
The Lady Bulldogs dropped to 15-8 with the loss. The Crusaders improved to 8-8-1.
“I was proud of the girls for the way they hung in there,” Howard said. “It seems like it’s been a thing all year that when we get behind we stop playing. We didn’t do that tonight. We competed the whole 80 minutes.”
Rolla actually got off to a fast start in the game, as Kerr slotted a perfect pass through the middle to Kaitlin Bramel, and the senior knocked it home. The play gave the Lady Bulldogs a 1-0 lead just five minutes into the contest.
However, the Crusaders answered almost immediately. Danielle Baumgartner smoked a ball to the corner of the net with just under thirty minutes left to play in the first half. A few minutes later, Kati Pitts headed in a ball from point-blank range on a serve across the front of the net.
“You have to give a lot of credit to Helias. Those are two of the better goals that I’ve seen in high school girls soccer since I’ve been coaching. The first one was a bomb and the second one a great header,” Howard said. “(Keeper) Adrian (Pogue) didn’t have much of a chance on either one of them.”
Helias made the 2-1 advantage stand up through the intermission and then added to it with a goal early in the second half. Caitlin Dulle crushed a ball from long-range from the middle of the field with 30:36 left, and it curved perfectly into the right corner of the net.
