EVERETT — Jackson’s Cara Wegner didn’t play the perfect soccer game Tuesday night at Everett Memorial Stadium. In fact, the Timberwolves forward had a nearly embarrassing miss on a wide-open goal, but Wegner went a long way to show that she is the best soccer player in the Wesco league and her
team might be No. 1 as well.
Wegner scored the night’s only goal in a 1-0 victory over Wesco North power Lake Stevens, but she had plenty of offensive fireworks other than the lone score.
“She is by far, I think, the best player in the league,” Lake Stevens coach Andy Knutson said. “And I’m always worried whenever she touches the ball. I just think whenever she has the ball in the penalty area she’s going to score. And pretty much she got the ball in the penalty area and she scored.”
Jackson (6-1-1 league, 7-2-1 overall) defender Lynnae George set the table for the 36th-minute goal, shooting a pass to Wegner beyond the Vikings’ defense. Wegner used some fancy footwork to get the better of a 2-on-3 disadvantage in the box. She eluded Vikings defenders and blasted a shot over the head of Lake Stevens (6-2, 7-2) keeper Kaiya Paulsen.
After the game, Wegner was matter of fact about the only goal, but was much more animated about one that got away. In the 71st minute, the Timberwolves sought an insurance score against the hard-charging Vikings and Wegner had a point-blank chance on the counterattack. The reason the goal was nearly embarrassing and not actually so, was Wegner made such a spectacular play to even have a chance.
“I see that the goalie is on the ground, and the ball bouncing in front of me. I thought I have one touch or it’s not going to happen. Unfortunately it was on the bounce so the ball was too high,” Wegner said with a laugh of the shot that bounced off the crossbar.
The senior captain, who is headed to the University of Oregon on a soccer scholarship, got stitches in her leg a week ago, but she insists they won’t keep her from anything.
It didn’t keep her from pestering the Viking defense all night.
A week ago both teams were atop their respective divisions, with Lake Stevens still undefeated in the North and Jackson comfortably ahead of second-place Kamiak in the South. Entering Tuesday night’s game, however, both teams had taken a step back and were seeking an all-important league win to regain the top spot. Last week, Jackson lost to Snohomish 3-2 and watched Kamiak reel off three wins to take a two-point edge in the standings while Lake Steven’s stumbled to its first loss at fourth-place Edmonds-Woodway. Though comfortably in second place, the Vikings have now dropped two in a row.
“It lets us have a conversation because we haven’t had a chance to talk about failure much yet this year,” Knutson said. “So we are going to do that now and see what kind of team we really are.”
For Jackson, the win was another endorsement of a stiff backline led by goalie Whitney Carter, who recorded the clean sheet. Coach Mike Bartley believes that finishing on offense is the only thing keeping his team from becoming a dangerous one that can make serious noise deep into the 4A playoffs.
“That’s a great performance against a Lake Stevens team. … I thought if we composed ourselves a little better in front of the net we could have had a couple more,” Bartley said. “Our offense is running well, but our defense is just awesome.”
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