Brookings, OR — The Challengers walk away with another L, but their heads are held higher than ever. Each of these girls showed growth and battled more than we’ve seen, which is all we could ask for. The marking in defense was superb all game, but on a windy day in Brookings, a cross into the box was hard to clear. After a miss-kick clearance Brookings took an early lead. Twenty minutes later our strong center midfield linked up to quickly move it forward for a through ball to Emma Coats who outpaced the defense and put it past a diving keeper. Going into half 1-1, our Challenger ladies were thrilled. The wind turned for the worse as it blew towards our goal and a high kicked ball from a Brooking forward, looking to sail out of play caught a gust that brought it down into the corner of our net. 10 minutes later a foul in our own box gave Brookings their third goal as they scored their Penalty kick, just barely getting past Josie Scaglione as her hand made contact with the ball. For 25 more minutes the Challenger ladies battled, with great shots on goal from Aubrey Hess and Emma, generating opportunities one after another, but unable to find the back of the net. As proud as our coaching staff is, we were even more thrilled by the response of the Brookings coaching staff as they praised our team and admired our growth. We had outstanding defensive play from Amelia Vanlandingham and Mae Ferreira, as well as great center field battles with Jordynn Jones and Maddie Winters.