Maroons spoil soccer senior night

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TISKILWA — Moline played senior-night spoilers on Tuesday night at the Tiskilwa soccer pitch, shutting out the Tigresses for a 1-0 victory during the Tigresses’ “Pack the Pitch” festivities.

Sophomore forward Emily Holt put the Maroons on the board with eight minutes to play in the first half. Holt snuck a low kick from the left side of the goal past Tigress keeper Molly Harmon, who sprawled out to stop it, but could not get to the corner of the goal in time.

Some of the Tigresses’ best chances to score came in the final minute of the first half, when they trapped the ball near the Moline goal. Sophomore Alix Forristall had a nice shot from the left flank in the sequence, but Maroon goalkeeper Amanda Smith was able to go up and deflect the ball over the Moline goal, and the Moline defense was able to keep the ball out of the net during the rest of the Tigresses frenzied attack just before intermission.

With Moline leading 1-0 entering the second half, both squads made it a more physical game, with play interrupted several times due to players being shaken up after contact on the field, although no one was seriously injured.

The Tigresses suffered a major blow early in the second half when senior standout Lindsey Nguyen picked up a pair of yellow cards and was ejected from the game.

Nguyen picked up her first yellow for making contact with a Moline player, pushing a Maroon around the 30-minute mark as Nguyen tried to break her fall stumbling down the field. Nguyen was issued her second yellow seven minutes later for running closely past the ball while Moline was setting up for a direct kick after a Tigress foul.

Princeton coach Ed Young said that he thought the second yellow card on Nguyen was excessive.

“I didn’t think that was necessary, just warn her, let her know,” Young said. “The call, because it’s a rule is fair, she did infringe upon the rule, but I think the color of the law needs to be interpreted. I don’t think there was any malice or intent to delay the game.”

Without Nguyen pressing the action, the Tigresses’ attack slowed down considerably for the rest of the second half, and they were unable to get much going offensively.

“Lindsey Nguyen and Lyndsey Frank, are pretty awesome attackers, you take one of those off the field, the other one has got to bear a little more weight on her own,” Young said. “When you take Lindsey Nguyen out, who’s the second leading scorer and a quality player, you’re going to lose one of your weapons and some firepower.”

While his squad was unable to come up with a win against Moline for the seniors, Young said that he was proud of his teams’ performance.

“I would have liked to have a win for them, but I hope they appreciate and respect the fact they played a quality game against a good team.”

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