In the final 20 minutes of play, the Newport Knights girls soccer team unleashed a multitude of shots on goal against the Inglemoor Vikings in a battle between Class 4A KingCo League soccer squads.
Inglemoor’s stingy defense didn’t succumb to Newport’s comeback bid, grinding out a 1-0 win on Sept. 8 at Newport High School in Factoria. Inglemoor improved their overall record to 1-0-1 with the win while Newport dropped to 0-1-1. Inglemoor head coach Kent Nelke was glad to see his team close out a hard-charging Newport team down the stretch.
“They (Newport) kept bringing pressure and we kept pushing the pressure away. They brought more pressure and we kept pushing it away. We’re resilient. I’m so proud of the girls,” Nelke said. “We gutted it out.”
Inglemoor senior Chloe Nordyke scored the only of the game in the 50th minute. Nordyke capitalized after two Newport players got confused on which player would gain possession of the ball in the defensive backfield. Nordkye sliced between the Newport defenders before uncorking a shot which found the back of the net, giving her team a 1-0 lead they wouldn’t relinquish for the rest of the contest.
The final 30 minutes of play was a stalemate between Newport’s offense and Inglemoor’s sturdy defense.
Newport’s Rachel Lundberg unleashed a shot on goal from five yards out in the 63rd minute of play, Newport freshman Callie Young had a solid shot on goal in the 74th minute and Sydney Roser’s shot to the lower left side of the goal with less than two minutes to play was denied by a diving stop by Inglemoor keeper Saya Brown. Newport head coach Tao Shen said his team controlled possession of the ball for the majority of the game but just fell short of earning the victory.
“Sometimes in soccer you win some, you lose some. The girls played their hearts out. I can’t complain about anything they did. The effort was there 100 percent tonight. They did a lot of work in practice and the preseason and it showed on the field tonight. We just got to perform better at finishing goals and making sure we have the finished product at the end of the game.”
Nelke said he knew Newport’s Shen led team wouldn’t give up despite being down 1-0 with 30 minutes left in the game.
“Tao’s team played hard. He is really building a nice program. Hats off to him. It was a good hard fought game. His team played their hearts out tonight,” Nelke said.
