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Berthoud Soccer Drops Season Opener

Lady Spartans Fall to Peak to Peak 3-1

By Dan Karpiel
Sports Writer

Photos by Dan Karpiel

[1]
Amb Loberg on offense

Season openers are always tricky games for high school sports teams. That was especially true for the Berthoud High girls soccer team in their opening match on Thursday night. With only four seniors on their 17-person squad, the young Berthoud team experienced the expected ups and downs of a season’s first contest. The Lady Spartans fell in their season opener at Max Marr Field to Lafayette-based Peak to Peak High School by a 3-1 final tally.

“We’re bringing a lot of new faces and new players to the table so it was great to see how they trusted each other out there and worked together,” said Berthoud High Head Coach John Barron after the game.

The Lady Spartans struck first in the game. Less than 10 minutes into in the opening half, sophomore Lindsey Loberg got the ball into the net for the Spartans. Fellow sophomore Cherokee Walker was credited with the assist. Unfortunately for Berthoud Loberg’s goal was the only one Spartans would score on the night. In 80 minutes of play, the Lady Spartans took only three total shots on goal.

[2]
Kari Ramton fights for the ball

Berthoud’s defense was busy for the vast majority of Thursday night’s match. After the Spartan’s early goal, the Pumas took and kept control of the ball for much of the remainder of the first half. Peak to Peak’s first goal came at the 12:45 mark when Belle Morel snuck one past Berthoud goalkeeper Megan Loberg thanks in part to an assist from Brynna Bostic.

The Pumas added two more goals in the second half as they continued to control the ball. At 29:02 Peak to Peak’s Katie McMenamin scored with Emily Gardener notching the assist. Gardener added another assist seven minutes later when she set up Gavi Roda to give the Pumas a 3-1 advantage. Thanks to efficient defense and stout goaltending, Berthoud kept Peak to Peak off the board for the remaining 22:47 of the match.

Loberg had an impressive outing as the Spartan’s lone goalkeeper, tallying an impressive 16 saves in the match. Along with strong defensive outings from Loberg and Walker, Berthoud’s Megan McGinn, Stefani Messick and Amy Loberg prevented the Puma’s from doing more damage. “They just did a fantastic job, a stellar job,” Coach Barron said of his primary defenders and added, “They’re all great players and they had to work really hard the whole match.”

Overall Coach Barron was happy with his team’s outing on Thursday night stating, “It was a really good performance, they came out ready to play. We had a short run-up up to the season, a week shorter than we usually do, and I think that hurt us. I think it hurts all teams. But I was very happy with how they did.”

The Lady Spartans will try to win their first match of the young 2011 season on Saturday when they take on Roosevelt at 10am at Max Marr Field.

 

 

[3]
Megan McGinn dribbles the ball through the Puma defense

[4]

[5]
Megan McGinn takes the ball past the midfield mark

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[7]
Cherokee Walker makes the free kick