Masuk Free Press

Tuesday, Oct. 18 Masuk girls soccer beat the Weston Trojans 3 – 1 at the annual Kick Pink game, played in support of Breast Cancer Awareness.

The team has spent the season fundraising for the ‘Hope and Strength Scholarship fund’ and Think Pink Monroe, and this game was no exception. 

The night started with an announcement that the game would be played in memory of Angel Fekete and Dawn Davis, mothers of girls on the team.

“Tonight’s game is very important to the entire team, the girls will be wearing pink socks and pink shirts in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month,” said senior captain Erin Davis. “Breast cancer is something that has affected many of the families in the Masuk soccer community, including my family, so this cause is something very important to us. So many parents, members of our community, team members, have helped make tonight possible with the bake sale and concessions all going towards breast cancer awareness. We just wanna go out and have a great Think Pink night.” 

The first half started off fast and the amount of contact proved that this would be a very physically strenuous game. Almost five minutes in, Davis took a shot on goal, but fell short. Senior captains Marise Klutch and Gianna Convertito were a brick wall for the Panthers defense. 

10:13 into the half, sophomore goalkeeper Kara Leandres made a save. Two minutes later, sophomore Ella McGee took the ball down the field and kicked it over to Davis who took a shot on the goal. Junior Lauren Eigo was an asset to Masuk’s midfield, playing strong and bringing the ball down the field. 

With 20:55 left, Convertito took a throw-in to Davis, who crossed it to McGee and took a shot on goal. Shortly after, at 19:42, senior captain Hannah Dorney crossed the ball to McGee who found the back of the net, bringing the score to 1 – 0. 

Eigo and Davis both took shots on goal again, stopped by Weston’s goalkeeper. With 11:23 left in the half, Weston scored off of a free kick, tying the game up 1 – 1. 

The Panthers came back fighting, Dorney shot out of the gate and took a shot on goal. With ten minutes left, Masuk scored again, with senior Sara Crespo bringing Masuk up 2 – 1. 

The Panthers fought out the rest of the half, with strong defense from sophomore Abigail Yeager and numerous fast breaks from the forwards. The first half ended 2 – 1, Masuk lead.

The second half started strong, goalkeeper Leandres made multiple saves and Klutch held down the defense. At 27:39, McGee got a breakaway and scored, bringing the game to 3 – 1 and pulling Masuk further into the lead. 

At 22:08, junior Brianna Van Derheyden carried the ball down to McGee who crossed it for a shot on goal. With 16:03 left, Klutch had an incredible block on Weston’s free kick. The game ended out with multiple more defensive plays from the Panthers, the score staying 3 – 1 in their favor.

Klutch said, “Weston as a whole is a very strong team, they have three or four players who are very competitive and have had similar scores. But we also have a lot of strong players on this team and so we were hoping to repeat last year and win over them. It was a difficult game but we played to our fullest potential and came out strong and got that win again.”

Come out and support the Masuk Panthers at their next home game against Notre Dame-Fairfield Saturday, Oct. 21 in their second to last game of the season.