Monday night saw two of the best girls soccer teams in the EPC clash as 4-1-1 Nazareth visited Northampton to take on the 5-0 Konkrete Kids. After a scoreless first 40 minutes, the Blue Eagles broke through 3 minutes into the second half on a goal by Ava Petruska. That lone tally stood up and the K-Kids suffered their first loss of the season, 1-0.

Head coach Michael Missmer summed up the performance, “You can always get beat on short, short, long and they (Nazareth) were very talented at crossing once they got there to get the ball into the box. We didn’t finish our opportunities and they finished one. The knock on us was, ‘Who did you play?’. Well, we just took them to the wire 1-0. I think we’re right where we need to be.”

While the team was disappointed to drop the game, their primary thoughts were with senior captain Iasiah Kirk who suffered a knee injury with 11 minutes to go in the game and had to be carried off the field. In addition to her own teammates and coaches, several of the Blue Eagles came to her after the game to express their concerns and wish her the best.

The K-Kids will attempt to draw inspiration from their injured captain as they continue the most difficult 2-week stretch of their season. Their next 6 opponents have a combined record of 26-9-3 and that includes 1-5 Pocono Mountain East. Parkland, Becahi, Central, Emmaus, and Easton are all on tap during that period.

Missmer is taking the long view toward the season. He said, “We always get better. We’re only 6 games in. Last year they (Nazareth) trounced us in-season and we knocked them off in the playoffs. We’re in a good spot. 5-1 is the best start we’ve ever had in program history. With Olivia (Abrachinsky) just coming back and Brielle (Szoke) out, we’ve had to find other players to fill the goal-scoring role. We’ve had to bring up freshman and JV girls into those roles and you can see that we’re still attacking. That finishing piece with the possession-type style is the last thing to develop and that’s only going to get better.”