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Bobcat #6, Grace Durante, against Bloom Township. Photo by Jim Piacentini.
Bobcats Girls Soccer Suffers Tough Loss to Bloom Township
By Dennis Bowling
Beecher coach Jonathan Kypuros could easily see the Bobcats were putting forth a great effort against Bloom Township. The Blazing Trojans managed to outlast the Bobcats though on May 3.
The Beecher bright spot was sophomore Brooke Jerkatis, a very talented midfielder, who had only one goal. The Blazing Trojans beat the Bobcats 4-1 in a SICA conference contest in Beecher.
The Blazing Trojans finished with a 9-8, 6-2 (second place) in the conference play. Beecher ended their regular season with a 14-7-4, 9-3 (third place).
“I was just glad to be able to score a goal,” said a happy Jerkatis. “It would have been great to be able to score just one more goal. It would’ve given us energy. We all tried our best. It was a tough game.”
“We want to come back strong in the post season playoffs,” she said. “Taylor (Killis) worked very hard in the goal. We were all supporting her. We just need to play at a high level for the entire game.”
With 17:35 to go in the first half, Jerkatis corralled a shot, and the shot went into the cage for a 1-0 lead.
“Brooke is always in the right spot,” said Kypuros. “She was able to put the ball into their goal. She has a great future with our program. She always gives an all-out effort.”
Moments later, the Beecher senior Carly Paulmeier had consecutive clearing shots away from the goal. Moments later, the Beecher freshman Grace Durante had three straight shots at the Bloom Township keeper. One of Durante’s shots did caromed off the post.
“From my standpoint, we are the better team,” Durante said. “We got an early goal. We were able to contain them.”
“Taylor (Killis) played a good game,” she said. “Brooke was in the right spot. We could have gotten first place. We could have done better.”
Moments later, the Blazing Trojans scored a goal to tie the game at 1-all. With seven seconds to go in the first half, Bloom Township scored a goal for a 2-1 lead.
To start the second half, Beecher’s Zamara Killis and Paulmeier each had hard shots at the Blazing Trojans keeper.
“Brooke had a great goal,” said Paulmeier. “She was ready for the rebound. She is always making a run. We could have finished in first place. Taylor had some great saves.”
Beecher will play Coal City (9-5-2) in the opening round of the Class 1A Manteno Regional on Wednesday May 10 at 6 p.m.
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