The Battle Ground Tigers had a total of 10 shots against the Woodland Beavers, with the last being the difference maker as a stalemate of a game gave way to an opportunity that Battle Ground’s Marissa Loveall took advantage of as she drilled a long-distance goal in crunch time.
The Battle Ground Tigers girls soccer team hosted the Woodland Beavers in a gritty match to kick off the season on Thursday, Sept. 4. The Tigers won 1-0 with the goal by Loveall coming in the final minutes of action. Woodland goalkeeper Rally McReynolds put her body on the line for a diving stop in the open field, but the ricochet off her landed at the feet of Loveall to send a hope and a prayer shot from beyond the goalie box to ultimately win the match.
The Tigers earned the win for new head coach Arthur Colunga’s first match at the helm. Years prior, Colunga had been an assistant coach for the program, and he initially thought of taking a year off this season, but his love for the game was too strong to pass up on the opportunity.
“This is a new chapter for me,” he said. “I did a lot of select soccer for 10 years with Randy (Brown) and at Pacific FC, and then moving here to high school, a whole different story, but I’m excited.”
Colunga said he’s nervous as a fresh head coach, but he will give it 110% every game, just like his players, he said. One Tiger standout who gave it 110% was goalkeeper Camille Cresap. Cresap literally put her face on the line, making charging stops to prevent shots and holding the Beavers scoreless. Cresap faced nearly a double-digit shot count without giving up a single goal to begin her senior season.
“Camille played awesome today,” Colunga said. “I asked her at the half if she wanted to come out because we usually swap keepers. She wanted more, and you know, her heart was in it today. That was part of our team talk at half, and the girls brought it, and all 20 hearts were all in it. You know, people were cheering on the sideline, which was great.”
The Tiger girls entered the home opener with just a week and a half of practice under their belt. With a short time to gel, Colunga was sure pleased with what he saw.
“I’ll be excited once I see what these girls can do when it all comes together towards the middle and the end of the season,” Colunga said.
Colunga said for the Tigers to find consistent game-winning success, camaraderie will be huge as Battle Ground has a wide range of experience levels on the varsity team. A senior class of eight will look to lead and push the entire team to give 110% effort every single day.
“Team chemistry is huge,” Colunga said. “We have a lot of variety here. We have people that don’t play, and then we have girls that do play all year long, and it’s just trying to get that to mesh together is probably the toughest part. Everything else will fall into place, and then from there it’s just us coaches taking each individual aside and fixing their small techniques to make it whole. I have a great coaching staff, and I think we’re going to do awesome this year.”
