The girls? soccer team lost a difficult 10-0 decision to the Davison Cardinals in which they were outshot 18-2, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of effort, according to head coach Val Cerato.
‘Anytime you lose a game you’re not happy about it obviously,? said Cerato, ‘but I think the girls played hard, they never gave up.?
Turnovers proved to be a weakness for Oxford, especially on throw-ins, which coach Cerato admitted her team needs to work on.
Speed was another determining factor in the loss.
‘They had a little better speed than we did, and so if they got the ball and they would get away from us, they were able to beat us,? added Cerato.
One Davison player especially, #19 Lori Kimosh was simply too fast to keep up with. Even Oxford’s fastest player, Shana Jones, who was assigned to shadow her, could not keep up.
Oxford has not beaten Davison in five years, but that is a trend that is seen in other Oxford sports as well. The Cardinals seemed to have had the Wildcats number in a variety of sports including hockey, baseball and football.
The Lady Cats will be looking forward to a long stretch of home games coming up, because of scheduled construction on the field during the latter part of the season. But for coach Cerato and her players, that is a good thing.
‘We don’t have the travel factor,? said Cerato. ‘The girls get a chance to play in front of their friends who generally come more often to the home games than away games.?
Oxford’s next game will be at home against the Holly Bronchos on April 19. The Lady Wildcats will be very cautious going into the matchup due to the Bronchos tendency to score quickly. In the past three meetings between the teams, Holly has scored the opening goal within the first minute of the opening kickoff.
Mike Stechschulte is a junior at Oxford High School who plans to major in the field of journalism.