Girls’ soccer has advanced to the North Coast Section (NCS) semi-final with a 2-1 win over Northgate on Saturday, February 22. The game was decided in the very last minute, when a Northgate defender touched the ball with her hand inside the box. This resulted in a penalty shot which resulted in the Cougar’s winning goal.

Junior AJ Morgan took the winning shot. “I knew I was going to be the one who was going to take it, but I was still pretty nervous,” she said. “It’s one of those things where when you go up you can’t really think about it too much.”

The girls weren’t particularly happy with their overall performance however. “We haven’t been performing to the level we should be in the recent games,” said Morgan.

Specifically, the Cougars struggled with execution. “We had a lot of opportunities to score. We just had trouble putting the ball into the back of the net,” said senior Lauren Petite.

Other factors also contributed to the shaky performance, such as the absence of team captain, senior Emily Orwig. “She is our top scorer. She has the most assists on the team,” said Morgan. “She is a  key player and not having her definitely hurts us.”

The girls go up against two time defending NCS Champions Bishop O’Dowd this Wednesday, February 26.

Morgan said that the team needs to bring their A-game if they want to have a chance against O’Dowd. “Hopefully we will put up a better performance,” she said. “They will be our toughest opponent up to this point in the season.”