MIDDLEFIELD—Cardinal’s girls’ soccer team made history in its 3-2 comeback win over visiting Bristol in a Give Cancer the Boot game on Tuesday.
Trailing 2-0 at halftime, the Huskies rallied to score three second-half goals to win their second straight game for the first time in the program’s three-year history.
“It was exciting to get the win tonight, not only for our program but for our team,” said freshman Bella Pollack, who scored two of the Huskies’ goals.
Bristol took a 1-0 lead when the Panthers found a hole in the Cardinal defense with 10:54 remaining in the first half.
The Panthers second goal was scored off a fortuitous bounce on a shot from distance with 50 seconds left in the half.
Down but not out, the Huskies regrouped at halftime.
“The attitude was very motivating on the sidelines, which caused us to bring the energy for the second half,” Pollack said. “No matter who’s on the sidelines or on the field, we are always cheering each other.”
Pollack was especially eager to play the final 40 minutes against the Panthers.
“While being down 2-0 during halftime, my whole mindset was to break through their defense,” she said. “Breaking through four defenders and scoring was my goal.”
It took Pollack just over two minutes to achieve that goal.
She split the Bristol defense then beat the Panthers’ keeper in a one-on-one situation to cut the Cardinal deficit to 2-1.
Pollack tied the game with a penalty kick set up when Anna Blubaugh was fouled in the box.
The Huskies closed out the scoring with about eight minutes left in the game when Maya Revak crashed the net and her deflected shot cross the end line.
With back-to-back wins, the Huskies improved to 3-7-2 on the year and they’re now playing with more confidence than ever heading into the final games of the regular season.
“It motivates us to play even harder the rest of the season and to make my senior teammates’ last season memorable,” Pollack said.
