HS Girls Soccer: Elma Uses Big 2nd Half to Defeat Adna

9/7/22

Elma 5, Adna 0

(Adna, WA) Some soccer teams across the state already got their season underway last weekend but the Elma Eagles and Adna Pirates started their season on Wednesday night at Pirate Stadium. Adna was coming off a very good year where they finished 2nd in the 2B state tournament. Elma finished 2nd in the 1A Evergreen Conference last season but missed out on a trip to state after losing to Tenino for the final spot from District 4. The major difference was that Elma had a lot of players returning from last year while Adna had a lot of pieces to replace.

Due to WiFi being down in the entire Adna school district, we were not able to get the first half on air. The Eagles rolled in a little bit late but they did not get off to a lackadaisical start. In just the 4th minute, sophomore Beta Valentine would find the back of the net to get her first goal of the season and got Elma on the board 1-0.

After that early goal, the majority of the half took place in the middle third of the field. Neither team was able to dominate possession and get real good looks. Both teams did have some opportunities. Alainna Roller had the first good look for the Pirates, but Elma goalie Mylee Hull would keep the Pirates off the scoreboard. Beta Valentine would look for her second in the 28th minute, but it would be Adna goalie Jordanne Moon coming up with a great save to help out her defense. Moon had multiple first half save to keep the score close.

One pivotal returning piece for Adna is Karlee Von Moos. The senior captain tried to set up the rest of the offense off of some set pieces but could never get anything to build momentum. Then, Von Moos started using some free kicks to take shots on goal and she hit one in the top left corner, but Hull would pick it out of the air to give her a clean first half. At halftime, it was 1-0 Eagles.

Thanks to Adna AD Luke Salme and the great technical staff at Adna, they would come in and fix the technical issues and we were able to broadcast the 2nd half. Elma picked up the pressure right out of the gate, but Moon continued to stand strong. The constant pressure from the Eagles eventually wore down the Adna defense. Grace Spencer would be on the receiving end of a great pass and found the back of the net in the 62nd minute to make it 2-0 Elma.

That goal snowballed and Elma got into a big-time groove. In the 70th minute, Beta Valentine notched her second goal to make it 3-0. Valentine would then pick up an assist on a perfect corner that was once again knocked in by Grace Spencer. Valentine would finish off her monster night by completing the hat trick with a late goal to give Elma the 5-0 season opening win.

With the big night for the sophomore, Beta Valentine was named our Thorbeckes MVP of the game. Valentine finished with three goals plus an assist in the opener.

Elma gets off to a great start in the 2022 campaign as the 1-0 Eagles will get right back at it on Thursday as they travel to Centralia for a 7pm kickoff. Adna drops the opener and now sit with a record of 0-1. The Pirates will look to find their rhythm now that first game jitters are out of the way as they travel to Stevenson on Monday at 6pm.