The Lady Cadets soccer team opens the 2024-2025 season with a road game to Western Boone High School (Thorntown). The Lady Cadets have officially moved up to 2A in the IHSAA tournament classifications and are in a transitional year in conferences. Cascade has moved from the ICC back to the WIC but will move again in 2025-2026 into the newly formed Monon Conference which includes Southmont, Crawfordsville, North Montgomery, Frankfort, Western Boone, Greencastle, North Putnam and Cascade. The Lady Cadets and Lady Stars have already been playing each other for the past couple of seasons and the move into the same conference will help keep this Girls Soccer rivalry going. Last season, the Lady Cadets held off the Lady Stars for a 1-0 victory on the Cascade grass field. With 14 of the 22 players on this season’s roster being freshman and seniors, the Cascade Girls Soccer team has plenty of opportunities to prepare the team for today and tomorrow. But finding that right way to bringing all these new and old players together is going to be the toughest challenge of this team at the start of the season. The scrimmage game against Decatur Central was cancelled after 12 minutes due to lighting, so tonight’s game against Western Boone would be the first game-like environment for all the Lady Cadets. During the first 20:00 of the game, the Cascade offensive rhythm was excellent and kept the Western Boone defense on their heels. The Lady Cadets developed multiple scoring chances that threatened the Western Boone goal. Finally, a smart defensive play by Evelyn Bolinger kept the ball in play and then she made a great pass up to Anna Burns in the open field. Anna then pushed the ball into some open space in the attacking third where she timed up an excellent shot upon the goal from just outside of the penalty box. Anna’s shot at 21:20 surprised the Western Boone goalie, who was a bit out of position, and she watched the ball fly into the goal. The 1-0 lead for Cascade did startle the Lady Stars a bit and they played a good 10:00 immediately after the Cascade goal. But they only managed to get two good shots on the Cascade goal before halftime that were easily controlled by the Cascade goalie. The halftime buzzer sounded with the Cadets playing an excellent first half and having a 1-0 lead. As the second half started to wind down, the pace of the game slowly moved in favor of the Lady Stars from Western Boone. The Lady Cadets physical conditioning started to break down and plays that were easily settled and broken up in the first half became harder and harder for the Lady Cadets to handle in the second half. With multiple fouls already called on the Lady Cadets, the Lady Stars started to build up an offensive rhythm that repeatedly threatened the Cascade defense. When the Lady Stars got the beneficiary of a close call on a foul near the penalty box at 27:15 remaining in the game, the Lady Stars scored on the penalty kick that was awarded and tied the game at 1-1. With the game now tied and the Lady Stars players and bench finding a new level of excitement, the Cadets needed to change the rhythm of the game as soon as possible to regain the offensive advantage they had in the first half. But that change never occurred and for the last 20:00 of the second half the Lady Stars kept control of the ball deep in the Cadets defensive end. Despite a few offensive attacks by the Cadets, the Lady Stars seemed to be in complete control of the game and they expected to pull out a game winning goal in the last couple minutes of the game. But a strong defensive effort by the Cadets’ defensive backfield kept the ball out of the net and the game ended in a 1-1 tie. The Lady Cadets walked off the field with their heads high in the 1-1 tie but they were physically exhausted in their efforts and a little disappointed that they didn’t put forth a better effort in the second half. The 1-1 tie for the Lady Cadets starts their 2024-2025 season off on a strong learning curve. With three more games this week, the Lady Cadets have plenty of opportunities to get right back on the field and continue working on playing better. The Lady Stars (0-0-1) move ahead in their schedule and get ready for Southmont later this week while the Lady Cadets (0-0-1) get a day off before they travel to face the Lady Cougars of North Putnam High School on Wednesday, August 21st. Game Summary Cascade 1 Western Boone 1 Goals/Assists: Anna Burns (1) 1st Half 21:20