A correction was made at 11:03 a.m. Oct. 11, 2024: An earlier version of this article misidentified the player that scored the first goal.
In a difficult experience on the road Tuesday, the Philomath High girls soccer team saw a 2-0 halftime lead slip away at No. 2-ranked North Marion in a game that ended in a 2-2 tie. So on Thursday while clinging to a 1-0 lead over No. 9 Newport at the break, the Warriors were not going to allow a repeat performance.
“We talked about that — like, what do we need to do to make sure that we come out ready to play 80 minutes,” Warriors coach Mat Phelps said following No. 5 Philomath’s 3-1 victory over the Cubs. “We made a couple of adjustments just with our mindset and I thought the girls did a really good job of responding, having energy and really getting behind each other to start the second half.”
Gallery: PHS girls soccer vs. Newport (Oct. 10, 2024)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s 3-1 girls soccer win over Newport on Thursday.
Natalie Dunn, a senior who connects the defense with the offense in her role as a midfielder, said the team came out of that North Marion game with a level of frustration.
“We really came into this game being like ‘we need to continue bringing energy into the second half’ and I definitely think we did a lot better,” Dunn said. “Everybody’s like, ‘we’re going to work hard, we’ve got to keep the energy up.’”
Phelps saw his players battle in those final minutes at North Marion — a moment in which he learned something about the team.
“They came back and tied it up but we didn’t give up,” he said. “We didn’t let the momentum eat us up — we battled back and had chances. I think the girls realized, ‘hey, we can play with anybody and we’ve got to keep going.’”
Against Newport (6-3 overall, 3-2 Oregon West), the Warriors took an early lead when senior Madyx Mooney took a cross from Dunn and finished in the sixth minute. The Warriors had a few other decent scoring chances — Kya Bolton received a pass from Maggie King and buried a shot in the 13th minute only for it to be disallowed on an offsides call and Petra Hernandez got the ball on a rebound in the 23rd minute with an open net but the shot sailed high.
Philomath (5-2-2, 4-0-1) finally scored an all-important second goal midway through the second half for a 2-0 advantage. On the play in the 60th minute, Hernandez scored with an assist by Annaleise Brown. Ten minutes later, Jordyn Hood got the ball to Mooney, who finished to account for the final score.
The Warriors have a senior-heavy roster with 10 girls in their final season with the program. But Phelps sees the team’s youngest players learning from their older counterparts — a group that includes Bolton, a freshman, along with Brown and Hood, both sophomores.
In addition to Bolton, who has become a major offensive threat in her first season of high school, Phelps said he also has “some sophomores playing varsity this year that didn’t play last year and they are getting to learn from these seniors that have done it for four years.”
Dunn sees the team getting better as the season wears on.
“I think we’re really improving on our communication and just learning to play with each other more,” Dunn said. “It changes every year — people move out and so it’s learning to work again. I think we’re doing good.”
Philomath will begin its second tour of the conference next week with a home game Tuesday vs. Sweet Home and a road game Thursday at Stayton.
