Early goal lifts Clare girls to frigid road win over Pinny

By BEN MURPHY

Cleaver Sports Writer

There’s cold and then there’s what the Clare girl’s soccer team had to endure last week. The Lady Pioneers were at Pinconning for a Jack Pine Conference game on Tuesday, April 8, and they got a goal just moments into the game and made it stand, for a 1-0 victory on an evening that featured freezing temperatures and even some flurries before the night was over.

“We've had a few cold games, but this one was especially cold by the end, there was a little snow in the second half,” head coach Jim Bond said. “It was a very cold game.”

Pinconning started the game with the kickoff, but after dropping the ball back, Ivy Russell stepped in front of a pass and broke away for a quick scoring chance. She booted the ball in, scoring the only goal of the evening just about 20 seconds in.

“It was a crazy one,” Bond said. “We had several other chances, but didn't manage to score again.”

Kaitlin Zeilinger was in goal for the Pioneers and had six saves.

On Thursday they played in a road game JPC contest Ogemaw Heights, where they lost in another unusual night, 3-0.

“It was a strange day for us,” Bond said. “First there was a mix up and our bus was not there to pick us up. By the time we got it straightened out we were half an hour behind schedule. Then there was confusion over whether the varsity or JV game was first. It ended up being the JV and we won that game 2-0. The problem was that after the game the ref only gave us 10 minutes to warm up for the varsity game.”

That quick turnaround seemed to impact the Pioneers a bit more than the host Lady Falcons.

“We started the game a little frazzled and made some uncharacteristic mistakes including a penalty kick and quickly fell down 3-0 before finally settling down,” Bond said. “The rest of the game was good with both teams having chances and both goalies playing well.”

Zeilinger was once again in goal, and she got her hands on seven saves.

Clare (2-2 overall, 2-2 JPC) had a non-league game at Reed City on Monday, they played at home against Shepherd on Tuesday, they’ll host Standish-Sterling today (Thursday) and head to Bullock Creek on Monday.

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