MONTICELLO–– It was another sunny yet cold fall day for the Monticello Girls Soccer team’s final game of the season. They faced off against Valley Central and unfortunately for Monticello they couldn’t keep up with VC’s skill on the field. It was a tough battle and Monticello showed their grit but ended up taking a 7-0 loss to end a winless season. 

Right from the start Valley Central’s superior ball handling, passing and positioning were evident. However, Monticello certainly showed  hustle and determination and when they put pressure on VC they were able to make plays. Unfortunately for Monticello, Valley Centrals defense would quickly get the stop and reverse Monticello’s momentum. 

The first few minutes were a bit of a back and forth with VC being slightly more dominant. Then Valley Central broke the dam with their first goal at 10 minutes into the game. Afterwards they went on to quickly score 2 more times in the next 5 minutes to bring VC up 3-0 over Monticello with a lot of game time still left on the clock. It seemed like Monticello was struggling to get plays going.   

Each time they started getting a break away the player with the ball would inevitably beat her teammates downfield and was forced to take a deep goal shot as there was no one in front to pass it to. This would usually get intercepted by one of the VC midfielders and taken back downfield.   

Monticello coach, Lindsay Rowe, recognized this as well when she said this, “We came out a bit slow in the first half today but picked it up in the second half after seeing our mistakes with lack of movement.” Monticello ended the first half 3-0 and without getting a single close goal shot attempt. 

The second half played out much like the first with Valley Central scoring 3 more times in the first 10 minutes. Monticello certainly had improved their movement and positioning  significantly over their initial performance. Both teams also picked up their intensity and pace compared to the first half. But Monticello just couldn’t overcome Valley Centrals teamwork and ball handling. VC scored one final time with 16 minutes on the clock and then played keep away to make sure Monticello wouldn’t get any opportunities to score. 

The game ended in a disappointing 7-0 loss for Monticello’s final game of the season. Coach Rowe had this to say afterwards, “We went 0-15-1 this season but we grew so much! We had a lot of new girls coming in this year, some have played forever but most were brand new. We had our work cut out for us to create that team chemistry but I watched them all encourage each other and I’ve seen them come together as a team a lot this year. I can’t wait to see what the team develops into in future seasons!”