The Lady Cubs won one and lost one in action against Big Four schools last week, bringing their overall record to 6-11-1 on the season. The grueling three-hour bus ride to Crescent City left the team a little flat in the opening moments of play and they surrendered a goal to the Lady Warriors within 30 seconds of kick-off.

The wake-up call brought the team into focus and soon freshman winger Vanessa Haremza took control of the ball on the right flank and advanced it through Del Norte’s back line to feed a perfect pass to the feet of senior co-captain forward Amanda Harrison who dribbled past the last defender and slotted a low winner past a diving keeper to level the score at one.

South Fork’s attack kept them in possession of the ball the majority of the time from that point on and they earned a number of corner kicks for their efforts. Junior co-captain midfielder Rebecca Brown curled a corner kick right into the back corner of the net as it failed to be touched by either team on its journey across the face of the goal for South Fork’s second goal.

With the score still 2-1 at the start of the second half, sophomore forward Kaitlyn Teasley made her first appearance on the field since separating her shoulder in action against Ferndale on Sept. 24. This time it was freshman winger Jazminh Lambley who set up the score, crossing the ball to the feet of Teasley who evaded her defender and put a perfectly placed left-footed shot into the side netting past the off-balance keeper.

Next to get in on the scoring action was senior midfielder Kali Persall who collected a loose ball and dribbled behind the defense to hit a low hard shot beating the keeper on her near post to make the score 4-1. The Lady Warriors kept their heads up and kept pressing on their home field and were finally rewarded with a second goal after a Cubs defensive breakdown. However, South Fork would answer back one more time as a free kick was awarded just outside the penalty box and Brown put in her second unassisted goal of the day, expertly floating a seeing-eye shot just under the bar for the fifth Lady Cubs goal of the day, making the final score 5-2.

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On Saturday the Arcata Tigers came to town and South Fork focused on playing patient careful defense to repel the potent attack of the perennial Big Four powerhouse. It was the last home game of the regular season for the team’s four seniors: Harrison, Persall, injured midfielder and co-captain Linea Lücking and defender Payton Luce.

For forty minutes the Tigers pressed and pressed but could not find the back of the net, shooting 13 times. With Teasley unable to play in goal Brown stepped up to give sophomore goalie Vonai Willison a break from the pressure of playing the position full time since Teasely’s injury. Willison’s presence on the field as an extra defender was very effective and Brown’s performance in goal was outstanding, as she collected 7 saves in the half.

Freshman defender Sammy Marino showed poise and confidence beyond her years, and Luce showed the defensive prowess she has been quietly cultivating for four years, knowing when to step up and make tough plays against some of the best attackers in the league. Shining at the sweeper position as always was Harrison who cleared the ball time after time to thwart Arcata’s effort.

In the second half the Tigers showed the championship character they possess by coming out with increased intensity in their attack and the Lady Cubs could deny them no longer. The Tigers scored five times before they were through, leaving the final score 5-0. In rebuilding times a team will focus on improvement over the course of the season, and with the exception of the St. Bernard’s game South Fork has improved its results in the second match-up against each opponent among the local schools, having beaten Del Norte by the narrower 2-1 margin and lost to Arcata by the wider 9-0 mark just three weeks ago.

Next up are two league games this week, at Ferndale on Wednesday at 3 p.m. and at McKinleyville on Saturday at 2 p.m. The team’s chances of making it to NCS are good if a win over Ferndale can be achieved.