Junior’s hat trick lifts Civic Memorial past Highland in girls soccer

For the better part of 45 minutes, Highland girls soccer team had a great chance to knock off Mississippi Valley Conference foe Civic Memorial on Thursday evening.

Civic Memorial’s Abrianna Garrett quashed that notion in the second half.

Garrett, a junior forward scored pair of goals in an 10-minute span early in the second half and then added a penalty kick goal for hat trick as Civic Memorial handed the Bulldogs a 3-0 shutout loss at Civic Memorial High School.

The win was a nice rebound for Civic Memorial (43-, 1-1), which was coming off a tough 5- MVC loss to Waterloo on Tuesday at home.

“We just weren’t moving off the ball well in the first half and maybe were a little lethargic but that’s a credit to Highland’s defense,” Civic Memorial coach Eric Zyung said. “They were in it and they were flying to the ball. Then in the second half, I thought we were connecting passes, trying to find gaps in their defense and when you get up one or two, it takes a little bit of pressure off your offense.”

Both teams had chances to score in the first half but Highland goalie Sophia Fleming and CM goalie Sydney Moore were strong.

Five minutes into the second half, Garrett got the Eagles offense going when she slipped a shot past Fleming for a goal off a smooth pass from Meredith Brueckner with 35:25 left to play.

“As soon as I saw Meredith take a step, I knew she was gonna play it through, so I just ran (to the ball),” Garrett said.

Garrett struck again for a goal at the 25:37 mark off a feed from Avery Huddleston to take the lead to 2-0.

Then Garrett finished off her big night with a penalty kick goal making it 3-0 with 14:45 to go.

Garrett credited Coach Zyung’s halftime message with getting the Eagles offense refocused.

”He did talk to us at halftime and it was something,” Garrett said. “It was something and we know he doesn’t mess around. We came out and started moving the and playing soccer like we know how to play soccer.”

Highland (4-3, 0-2) had one final chance to break the shutout in the final two minutes but Payton Frey’s breakaway attempted was thwarted by Moore in the Eagles goal box about 12 yards from the crease.

Despite losing to Civic Memorial for the third straight time since last season, Highland coach Daniel Podwojski was pleased with his club’s effort and believes it is headed in the right direction against conference opponents.

“I still look at how we made progress from last year,” Podjwoski said. “Being able to hold a team like Civic Memorial to zero at the half to me is huge. Going into the second yeah they got three goals and their team is good but again this is major progress for Highland and again, I can’t speak highly enough of these girls. They played their hearts out.”

Highland will be back on the pitch Monday with a 5 p.m. home game against Litchfield.