By Tom Murphy
Special to the Caledonia Argus

Caledonia High Schoolís girls soccer team began its season with victories last week over Austin and Plainview-Elgin-Millville. A third meet with Rochester Lourdes was postponed by rain.

Shutout Austin
On Saturday, August 25, the Warriors opened its season with a shutout victory over Austin High School, 5-0. It was a lopsided win for the Warriors as they held the shots on goal margin 18-4.

Clare Goetzinger did not wait long to score the teamís first goal of the season. It came just seconds into the game. The Warriors put an exclamation point on the first half scoring two goals in the last three minutes. Sarah Colleran scored the teamís second goal at the 37-minute mark.
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Erica Myhre put the Warriors up 3-0 with just seconds left on the clock. Warriors head coach Sue Link said, "Erica is a versatile player. She can seal up our defense, play midfield with speed, and move in as an attacker." Megan Schmitz was credited with the crossing pass for an assist. "She has progressed measurably this year," Link said of Schmitz. "She is guaranteed to bring the ball down the flanks and get off her cross every time," she said of Schmitzí passing ability.

Link expressed happiness with her teamís aggressive offense and was equally happy with the teamís second half defense. In that span, Austin did not get one shot on goal. In the first half Warrior goalie Arie Albert stopped four Austin shots.
Whitney Frank got the Warrior offense rolling again in the second half. At the eight minute mark, she went the distance for the goal. "She has a great attitude," Link said of Frank. "She really covers a lot of the field."

Despite a shooting barrage on the Austin goal, CHS was only able to score one more goal. Colleran put her team on the board again with less than a minute remaining.

Down PEM 4-1
The Warriors got their second victory of the season last Thursday against the Bulldogs, 4-1. Once again, it was Sarah Colleran leading the scoring with two goals. She started off with a goal three minutes into the contest and that held through the entire first half. "Sarah never quits," Link said. "She has incredible speed and she sets up precision goals."

In the second half, Colleran put her team up by two goals with a strike on a breakaway at the 44 minute mark. The Warriors made it 3-0 as Cassy Messner scored just four minutes later. "Cassy played her best game last week. She goes to the ball."
PEM was to score its only goal 55 minutes into the contest.

Clare Goetzinger got the final goal for the Warriors inside of a minute left, putting the score at 4-1.
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Up next for the Warriors
The Warriors had their first home game on Tuesday when Cotter played here. The Warriors were to also play St. Charles this week, which has a new program. Link is happy that more area school have added soccer to their athletic programs. The Warriors play Lake City on Saturday.

"We enjoyed playing Plainview because they have become more aggressive and that competition is good," Link said in review. She called for her team to use its "shielding and passing skills" that we had been using in practice. She believes her team needs to play its games as it does its practices. "We were playing the long ball game in games, but it practice we were passing the ball more."

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