Blue Jay soccer season ends, proud of the strides
· Yahoo Sports
Oct. 8—JAMESTOWN — For the first time since 2022, Jamestown will not be playing in the NDHSAA State Soccer Tournament.
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But at least the squad's last game of the season was a fight to the finish.
"Our first half, we played very, very well," Jamestown High School head soccer coach Brandi Harty said. "Unfortunately in the second half, we struggled to listen to the team game plan and things unraveled because we played to (Minot North's) strengths instead of our ownand that is why they were able to find the back of the net more than we were."
The Blue Jays capped off their season with a 3-2 loss to the Sentinels Thursday night at Rotary Field. Harty and her squad finished out the year with a record of 3-10-3.
While Jamestown's roster boasts 10 seniors, Harty had two major returners from last season in Grady Eckart and Evan Harty. The rest of the team was tasked with developing a team chemistry in a matter of two months — and this year — it didn't quite happen.
"This year was kind of tough because we weren't able to find that chemistry that some of our other teams have had in the past even though we did have a lot of seniors," Harty said. "I am proud of the kids who stepped into roles that they have never played before or the kids with such little experience who stepped up for the whole season.
"It's a lot of games in a short season so for a lot of these kids, they've shown a lot of growth over this season so I am impressed with how well they have done and how quickly they caught on," she said.
While not everyone on the team clicked, everyone knew Eckart was someone they should feed the ball too. The senior added two more goals Thursday night for a total of eight goals scored this season. He also has four assists on the year.
Eckart scored goal No. 1 of the game in the 23rd minute and his teammates managed to keep the Sentinels out of the goal in the final 17 minutes of the first half. Harty, a second-year goalkeeper, made a series of spectacular saves in the first half that contributed to no score by the Sentinels.
The tides turned in the second half.
Jamestown players contested Minot North's first goal of the evening — calling the scorer off-sides — but nevertheless, officials stood firm and the game was tied 1-1 with 22 minutes to play. Jayden Marshall got the Sentinels the lead off a goal scored in the 71st minute. The third goal of the night was scored by Anthony Winter Jr.
"They work hard and they want to get better," Harty said of her team. "That's important. They are young. Next year is going to be another year where we are going to try and build as much experience as we can in a short amount of time. We've got some young kids coming up who understand the game of soccer and they want to play the right way.
"They just have to grow and get bigger," she said with a chuckle. "I do believe the future in bright for this program, it's just going to take a couple of years."