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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels October 4, 2004 No contest: Ashland boys slide tackle Indians By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings For all the hype, the Ashland-Roseburg boys' soccer match Saturday afternoon just didn't deliver. Really, the game should have. Ashland entered the fray tied with North Medford at the top of the SOC standings with one loss apiece. Roseburg sat ready and waiting one game back at the halfway point in the season. Throw in the plans for revenge Roseburg harbored - the Grizzlies came back from a 1-0 deficit when the teams met a month ago to win 4-1 - and the injuries that kept a handful of Ashland players sidelined, and the story line had plenty intrigue. Then senior striker Fabian Garcia-Flores found his rhythm, the back of the net and the first Ashland score just three minutes into play. Turns out, that would have been enough to give Ashland it's sixth conference win of the season, but the Grizzlies still had 87 minutes of regulation time to run the Indians ragged. They did, rolling Roseburg 5-0 in shutout. "We take games very seriously, seventh-year Grizz head coach Eisa Tiaa Toutou said. "We try to improve ourselves and our positioning of the ball." However, even Ashland had expected a bigger challenge from Roseburg. "If you beat them the first time, they're going to come back tougher and harder," Toutou said. No end in sight One would think that holding out a few varsity players would create gaps and inconsistencies for Ashland. Although the squad would prefer to take the field with all of is players at 100 percent, at this point in the season, a few injures don't seem to faze the Grizzlies. "We're capable of filling in because we have a depth to our team," Toutou said. "We can absorb injuries now, but in the playoffs, we need to limit it." Even though Garcia and senior striker Thomas Golding combined to score all five of Ashland's goals - Garcia pulled off a hat-trick - Ashland received positive contributions all over the field. One of the brightest spots for the Grizzlies proved to be the goalkeepers. Ashland goalies just started working with an assistant coach whose only charge will be the defensive specialist, a tutorial Toutou thinks has already had an impact on the level of play. "We're going to see a big difference," Toutou said. "We're getting confidence that we can shut any team out." Roseburg took three shots on goal the entire match, including one penalty kick reserve keeper Greg Cross had to jump in to defend because starter Justin Greenberg received a yellow card on the play preceding the free shot. With Cross in the box, the kick that could have tied the game at 1-all went high and bounced off the crossbar. "The defense really stood up well," Toutou said. "I'm pleased with our movement on defense. We didn't make any big mistakes." And it gets better Due to a shocking upset of North Medford by Klamath Union on Saturday, the Grizzlies now have sole ownership of the No. 1 spot in the SOC standings. "We're on the right track and we're going to try to building on that momentum," Toutou said. Girls Soccer At Roseburg, Carli Godard looped an 18-yard shot over the head of Ashland's goalkeeper to give the Indians a 1-0 overtime win over the Grizzlies on Saturday. The loss dropped Ashland to 2-6 in conference play, making the Grizzlies' post-season forecast skeptical. The Indians (6-2 SOC) put 11 shots on goal, while Ashland managed only four in the match. Ali Foster claimed the shutout for Roseburg, which stands at 6-2 in conference play. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams