MTZ girls soccer loses two last week

By BLAKE FAITH
Staff Writer

The Mt. Zion girls soccer team suffered losses against the top-two teams in the Apollo conference in Mattoon and Mahomet-Seymour.

Against Mattoon, the Braves defense faced pressure early and in the third minute Mattoon received a penalty kick that Lily Ghere converted for her first of four goals in that game.

Braves’ goalkeeper Denver Anderson made 12 saves in the match. The Braves offense put a shot on-goal that Mackenzie Krieger put right last the goalkeeper that appeared to cross the line, but the referee said otherwise, giving the save to the Green Wave goalkeeper.

The Green Wave offense scored on six of their 12 shots on-goal to give them a 6-0 win.

“It was disappointing for sure and not what we were hoping for,” Head coach Jonathan Moore said. “But we were happy the first 30 minutes of the second half, I thought we came out and played with a little little emotion and played aggressive instead of being back on our heels more. We just told them we have to learn how to play that way against good teams. We have to win those 5050s and it seems like they were winning most of them and that’s a lot of the game right there.”

Against Mahomet-Seymour, the Braves relied on their defense and contained the Bulldogs’ offense. Anderson made 12 saves in the first half while center backs Macie Fleming and Krieger helped anchor the defense.

The Braves maintained a 0-0 draw going into the 11th minute. The Bulldogs were awarded a free kick that Cayla Koerner crossed into Emma Dallas for a goal to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. The Bulldogs finished with a 3-0 win.

The Braves fell to 11-4 overall this season. This week the Braves will face Taylorville and Charleston.