Cruiser Soccer Finishes Season With Win Over Foss
The Cruiser boys’ soccer team finished up their 2021 season with a big win on Senior Night in front of their home crowd at B.W. Lyons Stadium this past Thursday by shutting out the Foss Falcons 2-0.
The Cruisers would save all of their scoring for the second half. Their first goal and eventual game winner came from senior Josh Recktenwald. Max Van Eaton would send in a corner kick that Cauy Wood would head into Recktenwald for the score.
Cruiser junior Kevin Tomyn would finish off the scoring with a hard strike just inside the 18 yard box.
Sophomore Goalkeeper, John DeHaan had 4 excellent saves to keep the game safe while the cruisers mounted numerous attacks with 10 shots on goal, five of which were “on frame.”
The Cruiser seniors playing their last game for Eatonville were Cauy Wood, Spencer Bois, Max Van Eaton, Ben Harrison, Josh Recktenwald, Kjellsen Nykreim, and Cobey Uhls.
“The coaches appreciate to contributions of each and every one of our seniors this year and every year they played at EHS. Their no-quit attitude and indomitable spirit are what encourages younger players to follow in their footsteps and ensures the future of Eatonville soccer. We wish our seniors well next year in whatever they choose to do and we will always hold a seat on the bench for them,” said Head Coach Jay Cash.
Cash went on to talk about the crazy shortened season they have deemed the “COVID year.”
“This season was a wild ride with the many changes due to COVID 19 restrictions. We came into the season with incredible optimism but very little time to prepare given only 5 days to practice before the first game. Our first game was against our league’s best overall team where we played well but White River just played better. Using this as a learning step in this year’s development we got better and better with each game. This season came with multiple changes to the schedule. I counted 8 schedule changes this year which really does affect game preparation at times but the boys just kept pushing through demonstrating their flexibility which is a cornerstone of the game of soccer. We came into the year prepared to move back to the Evergreen 1A league which has teams that look and feel more like us. Playing teams that have premiere soccer clubs in their backyards, on top of Eatonville not having a middle school boys program, sometimes we play with a distinct disadvantage. Add to that the fact that we play most of our games against teams on turf and we are a grass community we, have much difficulty at our away games. The game is just very different on turf than grass. If you had ever played you would know.”
Cash finished with, “Through all of this, the boys just came out and had fun with a game they enjoyed. They needed to be together after this long year of school adaptations and rigid restrictions. We are better together, as a former Principal at EHS used to say. This year allowed us to also be our best selves despite the individual challenges.”
The Cruisers finished their season with a 2-8 record in the SPSL 2A league. As Cash alluded to in his comments, the Cruisers will be playing in the 1A Evergreen next season with more small town schools similar to Eatonville’s size.
