East soccer teams remain undefeated with sweep of Northeast

BYKENHAMBLETON

Pat Dingledine scored on a header after a kick from teammate Bob Kurasawa with six minutes left in the first overtime to lift the No. 2-ranked Spartans to a 1-0 victory.

Jenna Cole scored a hat trick, her second in two games, to lift the second-ranked East girls to a 4-0 win.

The Spartan boys (6-0) dominated most of the game but had 15 shots on goal stopped by Northeast keeper Jason Deterding and 10 other shots turned away by the Rocket defense.

"We got a little frustrated because we were playing hard but we couldn't score," Dingledine said. "We had a lot of chances in the first 80 minutes, but Northeast really played us hard and gave us a hard time."

Then, in overtime, Kurasawa lined up for a kick from about 25 yards away from the Northeast goal, found Dingledine, who turned the shot with his head for the game's only score.

"We've got a scrappy defense and I think this should give us confidence that we can play evenly with the better teams," said Northeast coach Ben Damewood. "You could see the frustration building for East and that's because we played with discipline and everybody understood their role.

"It was our keeper, our backers and our midfielders playing some of their best soccer this season," he said of his team, which is now 6-4.

East's defense was more than equal to the task, stopping all four of Northeast's shots and allowing the Rockets the ball less than 20 percent of the game.

"We showed plenty of patience in possessing the ball but we didn't create as many opportunities as we'd like to have," East coach Jeff Hoham said.

"They put eight and nine players in the box (about 18 yards away from the goal) and really stopped us up pretty good," Hoham said. "But we've got to work to get the chances even against that kind of defense.

"We're still learning. We lost 13 players from last year's team that finished second in the state, so we're pleased with our progress."

The Spartans allowed just one shot on goal and only four shots total while scoring two goals in each half.

Cole, a senior who is headed to Denver University on a basketball scholarship, scored the last three goals. Her second goal, a rebound off a save and over the Northeast keeper's head, brought a rousing cheer from the crowd.

"I'm just getting in the right place at the right time lately," said Cole, who had four goals in a victory against Omaha Duchesne earlier this week. "I think we're all just getting into our game and making big improvements as a team."

Jami Tomasek scored the first goal for the Spartans, now 7-0.

First-year East head coach Chuck Morgan agreed.

"We've had five games in the last eight days and we're a little worn out and we aren't playing our best, but we're playing better," he said. The Spartans already have two injured players and temporarily lost the services of standout Kaile Schroff to an ankle injury early Wednesday.

"We are playing very good defense, allowing around one shot a game and allowing the opposition only three or four times into our half of the field," Morgan said. "Now we need to get our offense going and work on our passing and communication."