Raiders soccer teams begin season with lessons and progress
By Bruce Karnick
bruce@hastingsjournal.news
The Hastings girls’ soccer season started in less-than-ideal fashion with an 8-1 loss to the Eastview Lightning on Aug. 21, but the Raiders bounced back quickly with a 2-1 win over Bloomington Jefferson on Aug. 23.
In the opener, the Raiders struggled against Eastview’s aggressive play and second chance scoring chances. Goalie Grace Knoll handled the first shots well, but repeated turnovers in the defensive zone made for too many looks at the net. Head coach Paul Armstrong said the team eventually found its footing after halftime.
“We started to play as a group. Second half. First half, it was very one v one offensively and defensively. And in the second half, we played more as a team,” Armstrong said, while noting that ball control will be a key focus moving forward. “We tried to turn and score every time, and the game gets to spread out, versus just taking a simple pass and using our teammates. So, we’ll just work on being smarter with the ball. We had a lot of turnovers that we got to clean up than just covering for each other on the defensive end,” he said.
Despite the lopsided score, Armstrong credited Knoll for keeping the Raiders in the game.
“She was put in a lot of bad spots today. Our team didn’t really help her out. We turned it over a lot in our final third. That led to open shots. We’ve just got to clean that up. She made the one she was supposed to,” he said.
The girls wasted little time putting that first game behind them. Following the “be a goldfish” mindset popularized by the show Ted Lasso, the Raiders started fresh and knocked off Bloomington Jefferson. After Jefferson took the early 1-0 lead, Sienna Sanchez provided all the offense for a comeback win with two goals, while Knoll earned her first varsity win in net. The win evened the girls’ record at 1-1.
The boys season also opened in Eastview on Aug. 21, and after graduating all but four starters from last year’s roster, head coach Jamie Swanson knew the opener would be a chance to see how a young group handled its first varsity minutes.
The Raiders allowed three first-half goals but regrouped at halftime and played a much sharper second half, holding the Lightnings to one goal after the break before falling 4-1 overall. The Raiders first goal of the season came off a corner kick that was redirected by Elijah Shelhamer to cut the Lightning’s lead to 2-1. Swanson said the early matches are about establishing a foundation.
“We’ve been working on a little bit of possession and defending and just making sure that we’re tidying up our own zone. So that’s really what we’re going to be looking for tonight, is how we mark, how we can build into attacks, and if we create some opportunities, all the better,” he said.
With only four returners and a roster filled with first-time varsity players, Swanson emphasized patience.
“Good mix of sophomores and juniors with a decent amount of sophomores. So, it’s going to be a learning experience for everybody during these first couple of matches, and then we’ll see where we’re going to take them. We’re going to take them in bunches, right? You know, these first three, we’re going to see where we’re at, what we need to get better at. And you know, come conference play is when we really want to try to be honing in,” he said.
For both Raider squads, the opening week was less about the final scores and more about setting the tone for the long season ahead.
Up next for the girls is a visit from Farmington, Aug. 29 at home for a 3:00 matinee game. The boys host Irondale on Aug. 27 at 7:45 p.m. Both teams make a trip to Burnsville on Sep. 2 with the boys playing at 5:00 p.m. and the girls at 7:00 p.m. On Sep. 4, they return home to host Tartan with the same format, boys at 5:00 p.m. and girls at 7:00 p.m.