By Nick Beversdorf
Reporter
Last Tuesday (May 24), Bluejay girls varsity soccer lost to SPASH with a final score of 10-0. Although the Merrill kickers didn’t play badly, a red card on the goalie Gabby Schlegel forced her to sit out the rest of the game and the game on Thursday also.
Schlegel had two goals against and five saves by the time the red card was called. She took out a SPASH player who had a goal scoring opportunity, which is an automatic red card. After, Alyssa Merkel was put in the goal for 15 minutes where she had two goals against and four saves. Hailey Schult went in for the rest of the game, during which time SPASH scored six goals, but Schult had eight saves.
“We really didn’t play bad, but as soon as Gabby got her red card, they were on a mission,” comments head coach Stephanie Nelson. “Again, we really didn’t play bad, but when you play a good team who likes to pound teams in the first place with only 10 out of 11 players on the field, it’s hard to keep the score respectable. No biggie. So Gabby couldn’t play on Thursday, but she’ll be back for regionals next Thursday.”
Soccer ended their regular season run on Thursday with another shutout loss, this time to WI Rapids. The final score was 6-0. Kaylee Bowe played goalkeeper the full 90 minutes, allowing six goals and making 13 saves. Merrill had three shots-two on goal and two fouls.
These games conclude a particularly rough season, with the team placing last in the conference with a record of 1-11. Bluejay varsity girls soccer will face Rhinelander in the first playoff game on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Rhinelander.