After failing to score in each of their three previous games including a scoreless tie against Chino Valley on
Sept. 17, the Camp Verde Cowboys girls soccer team entered their home game against Payson on Thursday, Sept. 19, aiming to put the ball in the net. And with five goals against the Longhorns, four in the first half, the Cowboys girls proved to themselves that they could be the offensive powerhouse they thought they would be when the season began.
“We’ve got our game where we wanted it to be, we’ve got the girls playing possession,” said Pat Allen, head coach of the girls soccer team. “We told them yesterday when we talked — ‘we need a goal in the first five minutes to seven minutes,’ so that was good because that was where we were having trouble getting started.”
The strategy worked, too, as senior Tallianna Wallner scored in the first minute of the game, on cue, before the home crowd had even settled in their seats.
“The goalie came out way too far and I took a wale on it, not sure if I was going to get it in,” Wallner said. “But I thought, ‘I’m just going to take a chance’ and it went right in.”
Senior Maddy Showers scored on a breakaway at 25:35 of the first half, then repeated the feat just four minutes later with another breakaway goal at 21:17 of the first half.
“Most of the time we try to send the ball over and score on breakaways like that, but that’s not all we do,” Showers said. “We had some passing goals where we had some really good connections and a goal came out of it. We like to mix it up.”
For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Sept. 25, issue of the Camp Verde Journal.
