Girls Soccer: Goalie keeps Hawks in game in loss

HOUSTON — A goalkeeper’s job is fairly simple — keep the ball out of the net and your team in the game.

Even though the Houston Hawks dropped a 3-0 decision to the Homer Mariners, Houston senior Jen Gardner did a lot of both.

“She’s a very good goalie,” Homer head coach Mickey Todd said after watching Gardner stop the countless shots fired on the Houston net by his Homer squad. “She’s got good technique. She’s very confident.”

Todd said the Mariners didn’t keep track of the total number of Homer shots, but didn’t dispute the possibility of the Mariners topping the 25-shot mark.

“She was all over the place,” Houston head coach Mary Sanford said of her senior keeper.

Sanford said without Gardner’s efforts, Homer could have easily added four or five goals to the score.

Even though Homer was able to pepper Gardner with shots, Sanford was proud of the work of her young defense.

“Defensively, we were all over,” Sanford said. “We’re just young.”

Gardner is the lone senior on a squad that includes only four upperclassmen. In reality, Sanford said, having Gardner is like having a coach on the field.

Homer’s Gillain Beran-Maryott was the only player able to sneak a ball past Gardner in the match.

Beran-Maryott notched the hat trick, scoring twice in the first half and adding her third goal at the 67-minute mark.

In the 18th minute, Beran-Maryott crashed the goal and knocked a rebound into the back of the net.

In the 30th minute, the Homer forward sent a sharp shot into the far side of the net, past Gardner, who stretched out to try to make the save.

With 13 minutes left in regulation, Beran-Maryott sent a high, arcing kick that sailed just over the fingertips of Gardner.

The Hawks also used key play by a few underclassmen to keep within reach of the defending Northern Lights Conference champions.

Freshman Dawn Childress helped sweep potential scoring chances away early in the game, but was lost at the 10-minute mark due to a muscle pull, Sanford said.

Sophomore Megan Noonan had, arguably, Houston’s best scoring chances. Early in the second half, Noonan forced the Homer goalkeeper to make a diving save to keep a shot out of the net.

Midway through the second, Noonan made a move in the midfield, sending the ball through a defender’s legs and brought the ball deep into Homer’s end, but Houston was unable to capitalize.

Skyview 10, Houston 0

HOUSTON — Skyview scored nine of it’s 10 goals in the first half of a 10-0 win over Houston at Houston High School on Saturday.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.