Canby Herald Online

Canby offense comes alive in first league win

Hasty scores two, Gillespie and Myers each add one in Cougars’ first league victory

• By: Alex Tam  
• Published: 10/14/2009 2:40:29 PM

NEWBERG — Junior Kate Hasty scored two goals and the Canby girls soccer team prevailed for its first conference victory with a 4-1 win over Newberg on Tuesday, Oct. 6.

The four goals were a season high for the Cougars, who had scored six goals combined in their previous six matches.

“It really felt like we got over the hump and we now know what it is like to win a league game,” coach Ben Winegar said. “So we just have to continue doing that.”

Hasty, a forward, gave Canby an early 1-0 lead and sophomore Brittany Gillespie helped give the Cougars a 2-0 lead at halftime.

Hasty scored again in the second half, and senior midfielder Kylie Myers had the fourth goal off a cross from junior Sasha Sibel for a commanding 4-0 lead.

It was a pleasant surprise for the Cougars, who have struggled offensively for most of the season. Canby has scored more than one goal just one other time this season, coming Sept. 15 in a 3-2 win over Gresham in a non-league contest.

“One thing we did really well was we took advantage of the opportunities given to us,” Winegar said. “When we earned an opportunity and we found an opening, we took advantage of it and put it in the back of the net.”

Winegar said finishing off those opportunities has been the emphasis in practice, and the first-year coach was happy to finally see it come to fruition.

“They started clicking and figuring out those combinations that worked correctly in practice,” he said. “And those combinations just carried over to the game.”

Canby (2-3-2 overall, 1-2-1 Pacific) moved to fourth place in the conference with five games remaining, beginning with home games against Forest Grove on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and McMinnville on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

Winegar said he is looking forward to the match against Forest Grove (8-1-0, 3-1-0), who is the big surprise in the conference as the Vikings sit in second place with nine points. Last season, Forest Grove did not qualify for the state playoffs.

“It'll be a huge game because they just beat Tigard,” Winegar said. “So to me, that's a very important game because we need to gain points out of every game we play, at least if not a win. With Forest Grove currently second in the league, that's going to be a big game for us.”

Thursday will mark the beginning of the second round of league play. The Cougars lost the first matchup to McMinnville, 2-1, on the road on Sept. 24.

“The biggest thing we've been struggling with is we make little mistakes and that allows us to get scored on,” Winegar said. “And just continuing to find ways to capitalize on our attacks and defend better as a team.”

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