T-Birds struggle in Oregon
OREGON — A game after opening its season with a 4-0 win, the Baraboo High School boys soccer team had a setback. Head coach Greg Riddell couldn't find many positives to bring out of the game, except that he was glad it's early in the season and his team has time to learn from this one — a 7-0 loss to Oregon. "I told the guys going in that Oregon was going to be a much better team. That doesn't mean that we can't play with them," Riddell said. "They just came out flat. They didn't come out with the same intensity." While the Thunderbirds were flat at the start of the game, they also panicked in the face of a quick and powerful attack from the Panthers. "We were running around, chasing the ball a lot. We needed to just contain and play defense," Riddell said. "Defense was going to be one of my concerns, and it was this game because we just got lost there." Oregon scored six goals in the first half, quickly putting the game out of reach. Riddell said his team settled down and played more as a team in the second half, which resulted in fewer shots being put up against them and only one goal. He said the offensive slowdown on Oregon's part also wasn't out of mercy either; the T-Birds stayed right with the Panthers. "Oregon didn't back away from us. They kept coming," Riddell said. "We slowed the ball down much better, and our communication was just much, much better." Oregon's Mike Amend picked up his second goal of the game, to go along with his one assist, making it a 7-0 game. "We started figuring out how to move the ball and we got some good shot attempts," Riddell said of the second half. "That's what we were looking for." The Baraboo JV team lost its game with Oregon, 5-0. The Thunderbirds are back in action Thursday, when they take on Monroe. Scoring First Half O — Brian Jacobs, 9:34. O — Mitch Kannal (Mike Amend), 13:26. O — Karl Bock, 21:42. O — Amend (Erik VanderSanden), 23:35. O — Trevor Scales, 29:20. O — Jason Karnedzke, 39:14. Second Half O — Amend, 56:22. Saves B — Andrew Ford 7, Jason Krunnfusz 3; O — Ian Christenson 2.