Trojans get the best of Klahowya in 'friendly'

"Steve Haggerty coached Troy Oelschlager during the latter's soccer-playing days at Olympic High School.And Haggerty still can't pass up the opportunity to give his ex-pupil a little schoolin'.Five different players scored for Haggerty's 2001 version girls team Saturday afternoon at Silverdale Stadium in a 6-0 nonleague victory over the Klahowya Secondary School team Oelschlager coaches. It was the teams' first meeting since the dissolution of the Olympic League, of which both were members despite Olympic's Class 4A size and Klahowya's 2A status.We'll always be happy to play them, Haggerty said of the Eagles, who now hop into the 2A-3A Nisqually League while the Trojans join the all-4A Narrows League. And I think it's good for Troy's team. He's got a state championship under his belt, and a couple of Final Four appearances, and some of that success might've come from them having played such tough (regular-season) competition.He knew we'd give them a good game, Haggerty said.What the Trojans didn't give the Eagles was a break. Haggerty's squad is young, but it also is deep and fast, and despite the absence of a couple key players it was able to run the out-manned Eagles a bit ragged by game's end.It could've been a lot worse, though.I'm not at all unhappy with the way we played, Oelschlager said, especially when you consider the caliber of the team we were against. We did some nice things, given it was our first time out.But you can't teach speed, and you can't coach it, Oelschlager said. We just don't have the team speed they have.It took Oly about 20 minutes to get the young Klahowya defense whirling a bit, and after that the goals came with regularity. Emily Tracy scored two and assisted on a third, Cassie Pugh had a goal and an assist and Lauren Haas, Lindsay Neste and Kristin Laird each added one tally.Tracy and Neste each scored late first-half goals to put the Trojans up 4-0 at the break. Tracy's shot ricocheted off a Klahowya defender and caught the Eagles' sophomore goalie, Alicia Langdon, leaning the wrong way. Neste was in the right place at the right time to collect a loose ball after Langdon saved Pugh's shot and tuck it back into the goal from short range.We had a couple goals that were pretty lucky, Haggerty said, but for the most part I thought we played real well. We had a couple freshman midfielders (Laird and Amy Patawaran) playing their first varsity games, and they'll get better as they go.Both teams were shorthanded. Oly's Tiffany Jess - the starting goalie in their state 4A quarterfinal game last fall - and Klahowya's Laura Dana both were short a practice; the Eagles' Chelsea Young was shelved by an ankle injury; and starting Oly midfielder Ali Armstrong was away at a family function.The absences hurt the small school much more than they did the large one.It's all right; I thought we did well, Oelschlager said. (Freshman) Rachel Sell played the whole game at defender, and I was pleasantly surprised by how well she played.Haggerty also got a positive from one of his young players, sophomore Ashley Cook, who was charged with marking the Eagles' goalscoring machine, Hilary Crisman.Ashley's going to be the one we have marking the other team's best scorer this season, Haggerty said. So what better way to get ready for that than to mark Hilary Crisman?Crisman had Klahowya's best chances on several free kicks, and senior keeper Erin Shafer took away another opportunity (one that would've tied the score 1-1), collecting a high cross from Crisman bound for Britini Hintz. "

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