BY TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
In their season opener, the Merrill Varsity Girls hit the soccer field on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, and scored their first win. It was the first contest of the year, and the Lady Jays came out ready, Merrill’s new Head Soccer Coach Dan Kufahl said.
“In the first half, the Jays controlled most of the action but just could not find the goal,” he said. “You could see them getting more comfortable with the new system and formation and knew it was only a matter of time.”
“We went into halftime 0-0,” Kufahl said. “After some halftime adjustments, the girls went back out and finally broke the stalemate with a beautiful cross through the box by #10 Reggie Lahti where Madi Sell was playing her position perfectly and was there to clean it up for our first goal of the season.”
“Shortly thereafter #10 Reggie Lahti got a good look deep and hit a laser into the back of the net for the Jays’ second goal of the night.”
Box Score:
Crandon 0 @ Merrill 2
In their second game of the season, the Merrill Girls struggled to score but just couldn’t land one in the net. It was another home game, and this time Wisconsin Rapids came to play – and score – in a Conference matchup.
“The ladies came out a little flat and allowed the Red Raiders to jump out to a 4-0 lead in the first half,” Kufahl said. “The speed, precision, and physicality of a Conference game may have taken the ladies a bit by surprise.”
To their credit, “The ladies never gave up and continued to play to our motto – ‘play with each other and for each other’ – and with some halftime adjustments went into the second half and played the Red Raiders tough and only allowed one goal in the second half while creating several scoring opportunities,” he said.
“Kudos to our defensive line (Anna Bowe, Evyn Schmitz, Ally Hoock, Addelyn Elliot, and Reggie Lahti) for putting on a defensive clinic in the second half!” Kufahl said.
Box Score:
Wisconsin Rapids 5 @ Merrill 0
