Prep Girls Soccer: Anderson’s brace pushes R.A. Long over Mark Morris

Civil Engineers: Lumberjills match high energy Monarchs in season’s first rivalry match

Jordan Nailon / blastzonenews@gmail.com

The postgame vibes on the R.A. Long sideline were not as jubilant as one might expect following a 2-0 win over its cross-town rivals from Mark Morris, Thursday, at Longview Memorial Stadium. Despite the victory in 2A Greater St. Helens League girls soccer play, the Lumberjills were feeling uneasy after a strange ending to an otherwise pleasant Civil War.

The collective pit in the Lumberjills’ stomachs settled in during stoppage time in the second half when their head coach, Taylor Wallace, was issued a second yellow card and an early exit for vehemently voicing his displeasure about a series of calls to the lead official. To his end, Wallace didn’t challenge the objection, even if he disagreed. Instead, he took a long, slow walk diagonally across the pitch while righteously absorbing the best barbs the Mark Morris fan section could lob at him from the grandstands of Longview Memorial Stadium.

The match was Wallace’s first back on the sideline after a short absence due to a positive covid test.

“I blame it on the covid. I have covid delirium,” Wallace said after returning the pitch for postgame pleasantries with his team.

The Lumberjills’ feral bearded foreman insisted he didn’t use profane or violent language.  However, he did admit to voicing a stern objection to the way the game was officiated down the stretch. Specifically, he felt his team was being held back from playing as hard as they could, with one player earning what he felt was an unwarranted yellow card on a hussle play.

All that to say, the first Civil War of the new school year was as feisty as old school fans would hope. As it turns out, the kids are alright.

Playing under the direction of first-year head coach Shilah Nickerson, the Monarchs played with an edge that was often missing in recent years. There players were dead set on winning 50/50 balls, and there was no sense of intimidation or awe emanating from the Mark Morris bench.

Nickerson says that newfound confidence is a direct result of an age-old approach; hard work.

“Probably just work ethic. I love (former coach) Gary (Bennett). I coached under Gary. But I think our girls forgot how to practice a little bit, with intensity on a regular basis,” Nickerson said. “They kind of lost their dedication to the game of soccer so I’m just coming back in and putting that into place.”

In the 24th minute the Monarchs defense once again stood its ground, but this time they did so a little too emphatically and earned a foul call when R.A. Long’s Alice Anderson took a tumble inside the keeper box. Anderson deftly deposited the ensuing free kick into the lower left slot of the goal for the first score of the night.

That 1-0 advantage for the Jills was nearly erased in the final minutes before halftime, though. After flip-flopping ends of the field several times, the Monarchs took advantage of the sudden change of pace and fired off two quality shots on goal while the R.A. Long defense appeared to be momentarily mentally checked out.

“We struggled controlling possession within ourselves, connecting passes and things like that,” Wallace said. “I feel like we were playing a little frantic to their energy. And this is the weird fine line, we needed to pick it up and settle down at the same time.”

Still, the Lumberjills saw goalkeeper Autumn Beaton rise to the occasion with back-to-back stops near the goal line that allowed R.A. Long to convene at the intermission with its one-goal advantage intact.

Again, though, the Monarchs retook the field with a greater sense of urgency than their opponent and created problems for the R.A. Long offense, and generated hope on the MM side.

“I have to give a major shoutout to our senior and captain Raelie Guizzotti,” Nickson said. “She played with her full heart out there tonight. I played her in a couple positions she’s not normally in and she gave it everything. I think if she could have willed (a win), it would have happened.”

But in less than 20 minutes into the second half Anderson was back to being a menace for the Lumberjills. This time she stripped a defender of the ball deep in Mark Morris territory before quickly turning and firing a well-aimed shot directly into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.

Despite the two goals allowed in the rivalry match, Mark Morris goalie Emersyn Thompson earned high praise from her coach for her efforts thus far in her third season wearing the mittens beneath the angled iron.

“This season we’ve just seen a new confidence about her and it’s been really cool to see her come into that,” Nickerson said. “I was so proud of her tonight. She did awesome.”

Despite a record that does little to convey their high-socked strides, the Monarchs walked off their shared home field with a vision for a better tomorrow that doesn’t feel like a hope and a prayer. They’ve got tangible pieces to move around and a template for success that’s starting to come together in the Monarchs’ collective consciousness.

“Our four backs have been pretty strong together, but a standout has been Ashlyn Cole,” Nickerson noted. “She’s playing left back for us right now, which is unfortunate because we’d like to have her in our offense as well, but she’s been so solid on the defensive end.”

Likewise, Wallace was full of praise for his defensive unit after they posted a third shutout in four tries in the young season. And there was one player in particular who made the R.A. Long coaching staff collectively raise their eyebrows as the Jills improved to 4-0 on the season.

“Elle Jones was really effective at finding balls in the air, finding volleys, and just putting a nice solid side foot on it and getting it a good 20-30 yards upfield,” Wallace said. “But also, when she has time and space she’s doing a very good job of finding our midfield. If we gave second assists she’d have a couple this season already.”

R.A. Long (4-0, 2-0 league) will host Hudsons’ Bay at Longview Memorial Stadium on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Mark Morris (1-3, 0-2 league) will play at Ridgefield on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Scoring Summary

1st Half

RAL - Alice Anderson free kick (24’)

2nd Half

RAL - Anderson goal (62’)