The winning streak ended today at home as the Tigers hosted the team from Bad Axe and ended up with a 2-8 loss. The Caro girls knew the visitors is an intimidating crew in terms of aggressive players and physical appearance.

A couple of mistakes by the defenders, who felt short to mark key players from Bad Axe, cost the Tigers 3 goals in the first half. Instructions from the coach to win the ball first, not letting them shoot at close range and tight marking need to be applied more in the future games to become competitive. The players from Caro realized that the soccer game is a fight to possess the ball and prevent the other players to control the game. Bad Axe dominated the first half of the game as most of the action was occurring in the Tigers zone.

During the intermission, the girls kept their cool as the coach emphasized the importance of playing a more aggressive game to contain these talented and intimidating players from Bad Axe.

Second half started with more enthusiasm from the hosts as they became more competitive and started creating golden chances to score in 3 instances but without any outcome. The Tigers were pressing upfront and fair enough, two players from Caro got fouled in the dangerous box within 10 minutes apart to allow the Tigers to take advantage of the 2 penalty kicks which were converted into 2 goals by center midfielder, Captain and Junior Olivia Walker. The coach from Bad Axe received a yellow card from the officials as he kept complaining about those two calls which were the right calls by the referees. At that point the score was 2-7 to the visitors advantage and just before the end of the game, they added another goal to end the game at 2-8 for the Bad Axe Team.

Despite the loss, the Tigers kept their heads up as they delivered a good fight in the second half of the game. The coach is very confident that his players will come back strong as they will work on improving in all aspects of the soccer game. Again, this team has character and will prove to become a solidified crew and family.

The MVP award trophy was presented to Captain and Junior Olivia Walker who played an amazing game winning the ball from defense, center midfield and forward positions. She also scored both goals for her team on penalty kicks. She also blocked some key shots from the opponents.

Next game is at home again next Tuesday, April 27th hosting the team from Harbor Beach at 5:30 pm. The weather is calling for a summer like one with temperatures reaching 81F.