Gallery • 3 Photos

Morgan Walje

Kennidy Sakalosky stands with her parents after receiving flowers on senior night.

ERIE- The Erie Tigers girls soccer team defeated the Berthoud Spartans 7-1 on Erie’s senior night.
It was the rainiest, dreariest night of the year. Umbrellas abounded in the stands and the players on the bench wore coats as blankets to protect them from the pouring rain. Oh, and the press box may be the greatest invention of all time.
Before the game, Erie’s 3 seniors were honored. Elise Capra, Kennidy Sakalosky, and Adlee Schenbeck all started what might be their last home game on defense. Fortunately for them, they didn’t have to do much work throughout the steady drizzle as the offense quickly put the game out of reach.
The game started off with a flurry of goals for the Tigers. 5 minutes in, Rylee MacLennan put Erie on the board with an unassisted bullet. 3 minutes later, Madison Tallman made the score 2-0, again unassisted. There was a brief scoring lull before McKenna Harrington buried an open shot off a great pass from Ali McNeal in the 17th minute. 52 seconds later, McNeal took a shot that bounced off MacLennan’s back to Harrington who drilled her second goal of the night.
In the 23rd minute, McNeal got her first goal of the night on a pass from Alicia Cardenas, who was getting some of her first minutes back from a hamstring injury that has nagged her all year. Zoe Hatch made two saves to keep the score at 5-0 Erie going into halftime.
In the 51st minute, Harrington got her first hat trick of the year on another pass from McNeal. Harrington said later that she couldn’t have gotten the hat trick without Ali and Rylee.
McNeal would score one more unassisted goal in the 57th minute to wrap up the scoring for Erie.
In the 59th minute, Breanna Fowler hit an open shot to keep Berthoud from being blanked. There would be no more scoring throughout the night.
After the game, a soaked Harrington said that it meant a lot to the seniors and the entire team to win in what will probably be their last home game of the year.
This win concludes the regular season for the Tigers. Their next game will be in the first round of the playoffs, as they currently sit at 27th in the 4A RPI Standings. It is likely to fluctuate some as the regular season continues through Saturday across the state, but they should be safely in the playoffs.                                                                                    This game was not streamed live on the Erie Tiger Network due to weather conditions (mentioned earlier), but you can watch other soccer games and the upcoming soccer playoff games at http://www.erietigernetwork.com.