Quince Orchard triumphs over Blair

Sept. 22, BLAZER STADIUM—

The Blazers suffered a tough 1-2 loss tonight to the Quince Orchard Cougars, bringing their record to 1-3. Although Blair started out strong in the first half and scored the opening goal, the Cougars came out on top in the second and took home the win. Poor offensive continuity and several defensive lapses in the second half were responsible for Blair's loss.

Both teams struggled to connect passes and break through the opposing defense in the first half, which kept most of the action in the midfield. The Blazers utilized their consistent defensive power to continually clear the ball from their end, but on offense their ongoing attempts to push the ball up the field were cut short. Even when the midfield started distributing the ball early to create more scoring opportunities, the Blazers were still unable to put goals away.

As the Blazers' frustration grew, their luck finally changed in the last two minutes of the first half. With a beautiful assist by senior Sophie Esparza that flew over QO's defense, junior Danielle Peck sprinted to the pass and scored, ending the first half with a 1-0 lead.

But in the second half, the Cougars made the necessary adjustments to become more of an offensive threat. Several minutes into the half, an unmarked QO forward streaked past Blair's defense as a through ball crossed the face of the goal. Shortly after, Blair's outside midfield failed to recover quickly enough, leaving the same QO forward open and allowing her to net a second goal in the far corner.

The Blazers could not match QO's offensive drive in the second half and they did not take advantage of the few scoring chances that the Cougars allowed them. Although junior Jessie Wolcott came close with a shot that the goalie just barely tipped over the cross bar, the Blazers were simply not clicking up front and had several offensive penalties called against them.

Coach Robert Gibb explained the advantage that the Cougars held over Blair, saying that QO "could get bodies up the field and counterattack quickly," whereas Blair could "not get behind them, and instead allowed them to come down the middle." Despite Blair's bad luck on offense, Gibb recognized junior Emma Liebman for her solid effort in center and her contributions to helping Blair finally put passes together towards the end of the second half.

Gibb said that maintaining a positive attitude will be key in turning around Blair's three game losing streak. He hopes that Blazers can improve their ability to finish cleanly on free kicks and corner kicks, which will make them a stronger offensive team.

Blair's next game is away against Blake next Monday at 7:00 p.m.