Highland High School girls soccer team drops non-conference contest to Mater Dei
After dropping three-straight games, the Highland Lady Bulldogs soccer team looked for some positive progress Wednesday, April 27, against an up and down Mater Dei club.
The Knights had their own ideas, though, and thanks to Alex Kampwerth, they ultimately collected a non-conference road victory. Kampwerth struck for a pair of goals just before midway through the second half and Mater Dei defeated the Lady Bulldogs 4-0 at Highland High School.
Highland coach Daniel Podwojski Podjwoski liked his club’s effort but was dismayed HHS could not slip a few shots past Mater Dei goalie Carissa Litteken.
“We were optimistic coming in and we were seeking to look at continuing with improvement, so obviously the outcome wasn’t the way we’d have liked,” Podjwoski said.
Mater Dei started slowly but found its footing at the 15:16 mark of the first half thanks to a goal by junior defender Avery Rahden.
Sophomore forward Emma Eversgerd made it 2-0, slipping a shot past Highland goalie Sophia Fleming with 23:10 left in the opening stanza.
Highland’s defense tightened up from there and just before the half, the Lady Bulldogs narrowly missed evening the score as Litteken turned away shots from senior midfielder Katie Augustin and freshman defender Payton Frey.
“We had a couple of opportunities, we took a couple of those shots, and, unfortunately, (they were) right at the keeper and not at the corner like we would have liked. But we were starting to see progress (offensively) at that point,” Podwojski said. “It just didn’t come to fruition.”
The Lady Bulldogs started strong the first five minutes of the second half as their midfielders and strikers produced three early scoring chances. However, HHS could not convert on those opportunities.
Kampwerth, a junior midfielder, then extended the lead to 3-0, scoring on a 45-yard line drive that looped into the goal with 36:38 left. Kampwerth’s goal with 12:40 left made the score 4-0 and put the finishing touches on Mater Dei’s victory.
Podwojski said he felt his club was on the verge of rallying in the second half after the two Knights goals.
“I would have liked to have had a little bit more time. I thought towards the end we were kind of starting to make a comeback in some way to go for at least a goal in there,” Podwojski said. “Unfortunately, that little dry spell hurt us there I think.”
This story was originally published April 28, 2022 at 1:00 AM.