OTTUMWA — It was a week that began with hopes of multiple wins for the Ottumwa High School girls soccer team.
In the end, it was a week that featured multiple ties.
Evelyn Soto-Contreras led a dominant second half for Des Moines Lincoln, scoring five goals including four in the final 40 minutes lifting the Railsplitters to a 6-1 Iowa Alliance Conference south division win on Tuesday at Schafer Stadium. The loss, however, did little to damper the hopes of Bulldog head coach Matt Erlandson of a successful week for his team.
“Our goal is to go 3-1,” Erlandson said. “We want to try to get one at Oskaloosa and one at (Des Moines) Hoover.”
Ottumwa ultimately needed one more goal in each match to get those two wins. Aaliyah Garza’s 30-yard free kick strike with just under 21 minutes left allowed the Bulldogs to escape Drost Field with a 1-1 draw against Oskaloosa on Thursday before Des Moines Hoover rallied in the second half to salvage a 1-1 Iowa Alliance south tie on Friday against Ottumwa at Mediacom Stadium.
It was a gutsy week for the Bulldogs, who ended up with a 4-2 win over Chariton just 24 hours before suffering the 6-1 loss to Lincoln. With a pair of 1-1 draws, Ottumwa ends the week with a 3-4-2 overall record including a 1-2-2 conference mark despite several players dealing with injuries including leading goal-scorer Ilana Vasconez.
“We’ve got a lot of young girls out there that are stepping up and playing tough,” Erlandson said. “The girls are working hard. They listen well. If I say this is what you need to do or this is how you need to play a position, they do it and they focus on that.
“Coachable kids are what I want. That’s why we’re doing well. They’re good and they listen.”
Garza, playing through her own injured ankle that had the Ottumwa freshman in a walking boot just one week earlier, led the Bulldogs last week scoring a goal in each of the four matches played over a five-day span. Garza’s third goal of the season capped a three-goal opening half at Chariton last Monday at Chariton with goals by Jhiara Garcia, Valeria Lujan and Zuleyka Goodoy allowing the Bulldogs to secure their third win of the season.
Garza converted a penalty kick one night late late in the first half against Lincoln, lifting Ottumwa into a 1-1 tie at halftime with the Railsplitters. Despite giving up a goal to Soto-Contreras on a strike from 25 yards out, the Bulldogs had limited the chances of the Iowa Alliance’s top striker.
“We have a short bench, but we had girls step up and play some long minutes,” Erlandson said. “We were able to contain (Soto-Contreras) in the first half. You could see that we were frustrating Lincoln with our game plan. They were frustrated in the first half. We just let them knock the ball around and we were just waiting for them to make mistakes to we could capitalize on them.”
After a first half in which both teams had their chances, Des Moines Lincoln (3-4-1, 2-1 Iowa Alliance) dominated the second half leading to a 13-1 edge in shots over the final 40 minutes. Soto-Contreras put the Railsplitters ahead for good, running past the Bulldog defense in the eighth minute of the second half before driving in for her third goal of the match just over four minutes later giving Lincoln a 3-1 lead.
“Lily’s fast. She might be the fastest player we’ll see all season,” Erlandson said. “Des Moines Roosevelt has some fast players. Albia has fast players. So did Pella Christian. Lily has a speed that’s just different than what we’ve seen.”
Two more goals by Soto-Contreras and a goal by Marlene Diaz late in the second half clinching Lincoln’s conference win over the Bulldogs. Ottumwa found themselves having to battle from behind on Thursday after a goal by Ella Walter just under eight minutes into the match gave Oskaloosa a 1-0 lead.
The Indians had a chance to double their lead after a penalty on a loose ball near the goal resulted in a penalty kick for Oskaloosa and a red card that left the Bulldogs having to play a majority of the match short-handed. Besides making eight saves, Ottumwa sophomore goal keeper Blythe Schmidt got a little help from the cross bar that kept a penalty kick out of the net, keeping the Bulldogs within a goal of the Indians heading into the second half.
“A lot of it comes down to instinct and quick movements,” Schmidt said. “You just have to know how to read the body language of different players and find their patterns to give me a chance to make saves.”
Ottumwa is back in action on Tuesday against No. 15 (3A) Ames. With the Don Newell Invitational track and field meet going on at Schafer Stadium, the Bulldogs will take on the Little Cyclones at the Indian Hills on-campus soccer field starting at 4:45 p.m.
