Cards bounced from soccer playoffs

The soccer season for Medical Lake and the stellar, record-setting career of forward Makayla Geiger came to an end Nov. 2 when Freeman scored a 2-0 win in the cold rain at Spokane Falls Community College.

The Scotties got goals 12 minutes apart, the first and eventual game winner from Claire Love in the fourth minute and another from Kylie Nelson in the 16th minute to move on to the state tournament.

We just got scored on early and it put us in a hole," head coach Zane Higgins said. "We did a good job, we were putting some pressure on them. We were getting good shots, we just didn't put anything in."

Freeman outshot Medical Lake12-6 with the Cardnals' Taylor Cannon making eight saves. Cannon was shaken up on the second Scotties' goal after diving across to attempt a save, hit her head on the goal post.

"She ended up being OK," Higgins said.

Medical Lake finished its season at 9-9."Overall we had a pretty good season especially considering the lack of numbers," Higgins said. His team finished the season with just 16 players on the roster.

Despite that, Higgins was happy with what he saw. "We came close, really close, especially in the Lakeside game," Higgins said of the 1-0 shootout loss on Oct. 26.

Geiger who, despite being held scoreless in her final game, scored a record 28 goals in 2017, part of a career where she connected with the net 73 times. And while that's going to be a major dent in the offense for 2018, Higgins said there are players to try to fill the void.

"We still have girls who can score goals," he said. "We've got Jaxyn (Farmen), Nicole (Wetherell), Mercedes (Kindell)." Another bright spot are some young defenders who were getting better at the end of the season and include Jaycee Oliver and Ellie Acord.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].