The Lady Cadets soccer team (5-3, 3-1 ICC) traveled to Southmont to play a Sectional rival in the Southmont Lady Mounties. The Southmont Lady Mounties had won four consecutive Sectional 41 titles until the Lady Cadets won the last two. The Lady Cadets and Lady Mounties had played six very competitive games over the past three seasons and both teams hoped to see each other again at some point in the IHSAA tournament. The Cadets swept both games last season against the Lady Mounties and hoped to get back on a winning streak with a solid performance in this year’s regular season game. With the Lady Cadets working through some late season injuries, the Cadets made best with the roster that was available on Monday night. With the Cadets moving players around from the defensive to offensive ends frequently, it was expected to be a bit of challenge to get the team off to a solid start but the players on the field for Cascade did a really good job in the opening minutes. Strong play from Anna Burns and Creedance Chittenden helped Cascade get off to a good start and kept the Southmont Lady Mounties from building an offensive rhythm during the first 20:00 of the game. After stalling out a couple of Cascade offensive sequences, the Southmont defense started to read the Cadet passing patterns and won the ball back easily. These steals allowed the Southmont defense to build a good offensive rhythm by pushing the ball quickly up the field to their offensive players. The Mounties were fortunate to have a very talented midfielder who could do everything for the Mounties offense and she received the ball frequently in their better offensive build outs. The Cadets held off all of the best Southmont offensive opportunities with the efforts of their starting goalie Zoey Wyneken but failed to keep the Mounties off the scoreboard in the first half. A poor restart effort from the Cadets and a lucky shot by the Mounties notched the first goal of the game with about 15 minutes remaining in the first half and this goal emotionally deflated the Cadets. As the Cadets limped into halftime, the team knew they would have to find some extra energy to pull themselves back into the game. The missing energy the Lady Cadets needed came from just 5:00 into the second half when Alexa Rodriguez finally scored her first goal after numerous close attempts. When Anna Burns won the ball back deep in the Mountie third of the field, she quickly put the ball back into the center in an effort to get other players involved in the play. Alexa ran quickly towards the ball that was settled poorly by the Mountie defensive player and won it back just above the top of the penalty box. Alexa then took a great touch that moved her into better scoring position and swiftly shot the ball past the charging Southmont goalie. The game was now 1-1 and the entire Cadet team cheered loudly in happiness for Alexa’s effort. This new life into the Cascade team was an energizing force for the next couple of minutes of play but would just not be enough to keep the Cadets in the game. Another misplayed Cascade possession led directly into a Southmont attack that yielded another Southmont goal only 5:06 after Alexa’s game tying goal. Despite the Cadets getting some really good shots on goal late in the second half, the Cadets would never score another goal to tie the game and the clock expired with Southmont holding on for a 2-1 victory. The 2-1 loss for the Lady Cadets was their third loss in a row and knocked the 2023 season record back down to 5-4. The Lady Mounties season record now stands at 7-6 with three games remaining on their schedule. Cascade looks ahead now to their Senior Night celebrations on Wednesday, September 20th as part of a boy/girl double header against Northview. The game with Northview will start at 5:30 p.m. and the boys game should start around 7:30 p.m. Game Summary Southmont 1 - 1 2 Cascade 0 - 1 1 Goals/Assists: 2nd H 35:19 Alexa Rodriguez (1) Hudl Highlight Video Link: https://www.hudl.com/video/2/497952/65091bb7dfe32803d0950436