By BRAD BAUGHMAN, for The Democrat
With just under six minutes remaining in the Brown County girls soccer game with West Vigo, Eagle sophomore Victoria Klaker deftly slipped past a Viking defender and booted the ball into the net, past the Viking goalie who had moved up to challenge her.
It was the final goal scored in the Sept. 26 contest, and the only Brown County goal of the day, as the Eagles lost to a talented and athletic West Vigo team, 11-1.
To the average fan, Klaker’s goal might have seemed meaningless. But to a youthful, inexperienced, undermanned team winding down a tough season where goals have been few and hard to come by, no goal is meaningless.
Brown County Coach Carlie Salisbury saw many positives despite the lopsided score.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]“Our performance today was actually our most put-together game. We were missing a key player, but we had improvements everywhere. Defense moved together much better the second half,” she said.
Salisbury attributed Klaker’s score to players working together offensively, and she was pleased with her midfielders. “Our midfield played both offense and defense and had many steals,” she said.
Brown County kept the Vikings scoreless for the first 10 minutes before Dusty Welker got free for a goal. West Vigo would score four more goals before the half, three of them from the strong leg of senior Corynn DeGroote.
DeGroote would go on to score a total of seven goals, setting a West Vigo record for goals scored in a career and leaving Eagle Park with one of the game balls.
Sarah Callahan, the Eagles’ sophomore goalkeeper, had a busy first half dealing with the Vikings, who often were able to simply outrun their defenders. Had Callahan not made three or four outstanding saves, the Eagles would have been down even more.
By game’s end, Callahan would register double-digit saves. “Our goalie, Sarah Callahan, stood out as always with 29 saves, some diving, just great saves,” Salisbury said.
The West Vigo loss marked the Eagles 11th straight loss without a win. What does a coach say to her team after another one-sided affair?
“Always keep our chins up and know we are looking for progress over perfection, and each game we are trying to put into play what we have learned in practice,” Salisbury stated.
With a roster that lists only one senior and two juniors, the Eagles have obviously been short on experience.
“This season seemed to be a season of taking soccer back to its basics. With so many seniors gone and so many freshmen with little experience coming in, we have worked on the very basic fundamentals, and that is where we have seen the most improvements,” Salisbury said.
Because so much time has been devoted to basic skill development, Salisbury said she has not been able to introduce some of the bigger, more complex concepts of the game.
She has adjusted some of her thinking in terms of gauging the team’s success.
“We went from saying, ‘Let’s win,’ to ‘Let’s score a goal.’ ‘Okay, let’s get the ball down the field. Okay, let’s keep possession of the ball.’ We broke the concept of winning down to its steps, and then we track our progress on those steps. Each game, we progress in some way.”
Another challenge the team has faced is bench depth. When asked about the inability to substitute, Salisbury responded, “It’s rough. It makes a rough season even rougher. It definitely contributes to our losses around the 20-minute mark of the second half, when the other team sends fresh players in from the bench and we are on our last leg.”
Playing many minutes without rest is a recipe for injury, but the Eagles have no choice at times. “We have played down a man, sometimes two in a game,” Salisbury said.
Despite the many obstacles the Eagles have faced, Salisbury points to some individuals who have had a positive impact on the season.
“Anna Tipton always stands out because she can run the field and never seem tired,” Salisbury said.
“Klaker and Kylie Workman both have two goals this season, and our midfielders, Tipton and Jamie Bube, have been the best runners and helpers for both offense and defense.”
Defensively, the coach singled out her lone senior, Isa Fogg, and sophomore Xyliegh Thompson.
“Isa is our senior and our stopper, and without her presence on the field, we are lost in our communication,” said Salisbury, who called Thompson her “toughest defender, even defending goal sometimes.”
Her players may not have won a game this season, but they have won the admiration of their coach.
“We have great girls that make up this team. They are still lighthearted and hopeful for what the upcoming games bring. As a whole, they don’t give up, and most of them will leave their heart out on the field when they play a game,” Salisbury said.
