Aberdeen Central wasted little time getting on the scoreboard Tuesday night against Huron.
The Golden Eagles scored three goals in the match’s first 5 minutes, and nine before the half to cruise to an 11-0 win over the Tigers. Central is now 2-0 to begin the season.
Despite a lopsided win over a relatively inexperienced Huron squad, Central head coach Merle Aske was satisfied with his team’s performance.
“We knew going into (Tuesday) night, we knew what to expect, but at the same time, we need to be able to execute no matter what the situation is,” Aske said. “I think we handled our approach the correct way and we did a lot of things right. Don’t forget, it’s only our second game of the year. There will always be some areas we need to correct before we get into the meet of our season. But yeah, overall, good team performance.”
Nico Jung got the scoring going with an assist from Deborah Wills at the 35:32 mark of the first half. Two minutes later Grace Imbery hooked a corner kick into the back of the net for an unassisted goal and a 2-0 lead. Then less than 2 minutes after that Tori Heier found some space in front of the Huron net and scored off the assist from Emma Yeske making it a 3-0 lead.
“We did score, but we still have things to improve on,” said junior forward Wills. “Beginning the year against (Sioux Falls) O’Gorman then playing Huron (Tuesday) night, it’s kind of hard to see where we are (as a team). But if we practice hard, and stay focused, then I think we can do pretty well the rest of the season.”
All told, the Golden Eagles tallied nine goals in the match’s first 40 minutes, each of which came off the feet of a different player. In a game where Aske knew his squad would be faster and more athletic overall, it gave him a chance to insert players for quality minutes they aren’t used to getting.
“(Tuesday) night was a good opportunity for our backups to get some playing time,” Aske said. “Anytime you can get some of your younger girls into a varsity game, to give them a feel for the speed of how a game is played and give them a chance to play along with some other girls they normally wouldn’t have the chance too, it just gives your players some experience. As the season goes on, with injuries and what not, you’re never sure when you’re going to need to put (younger) girls into a game.”
Heier netted her second goal of the game 9 minutes into the second half to make it a 10-0 lead, which led to the second half ending after 20 minutes of play per South Dakota state high school soccer rules. Wills, who was glad some of the younger girls saw some playing time, also knows the key for this Central squad will be to build cohesion, and they’ll need to start with that Friday against Pierre.
Huron will be at Brookings on Monday.
