Central Oregonian

Cowgirls struggle to compete

After a promising start the team finishes their season with a 1-12 record

Lon Austin

November 26, 2012

When Rich Abrams took over the girls soccer program midway through last season, the team instantly improved.

The team’s time of possession and defense both got better.

This year started positively as well. For the first time in years, enough girls turned out for the program to field a JV team. Not only that, the athletic level on the team improved.

The season started promisingly enough with a close loss to Stayton, and a win over La Pine.

From there, the bottom dropped out. Injuries started to pile up and the team lost the next three games by a combined score of 24-0.

The team rebounded to take a 3-0 lead in the first half of a Special District I matchup with Ridgeview, only to give up the lead — and the match — in the second half.

The Cowgirls also took a lead against Sweet Home the following week, then once again gave up a flurry of second half goals to drop the match.

After the promising start, the team struggled to a 1-12 finish.

The poor record has become something of a habit for the Cowgirls. In the past seven years they have a cumulative record of 7-66-5.

However, this time might be different. In spite of the poor record, the team may be making progress. Instead of losing by double-digit margins, this time the losing margin was less. Adding to the reasons for optimism, the JV squad had a competitive season, and finished with close to a .500 winning percentage.

The varsity started the season with 11 seniors on the roster. However, by the end of the year several members of the JV squad had moved up to the varsity team — and gained much needed experience for next year.

The JV?squad continued to be competitive, even with several of their top players moving up to the varsity team.

Abrams said several times during the later part of the year, he was looking forward to next year because the members of the JV team were fearless, and that was why they were competitive.

He also noted that the skill level in the entire program was starting to improve and the team was becoming more athletic. The program still has a ways to go, but things may finally be looking up.