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Pleasant Valley finishes season on bittersweet note

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By Jon Gremmels | Friday, June 08, 2007 |

MUSCATINE, Iowa — There was little coach Cathy Allbaugh could say after her Pleasant Valley girls soccer team suffered a 1-0 loss to Ames on Thursday evening in the first round of the Iowa Class 2A girls soccer state tournament at the Muscatine Soccer Complex.

“We played so well,” Allbaugh said. “I’m proud of these girls. It was a great season.”

Ending on the short side of a 1-0 score didn’t make things any easier.

“That does kind of make it tougher,” Allbaugh said. “We had some opportunities to get it back, but things just didn’t bounce our way.”

Pleasant Valley senior midfielder Anna Westlund said Ames (14-4) provided some unique challenges.

“They were unlike any team we’ve played,” she said. “They were a very good passing team.”

Trisha Nesbitt, a sophomore midfielder, scored the only goal, and she didn’t even get to see it.

“I fell down and didn’t really get to see it go in,” she said. “I got up and everybody was tackling me.”

Nesbitt’s goal on a move to her right about 5 yards beyond the box in the 32nd minute of the first half came against a great defensive effort, too.

“(Natalie Hashimi) was able to play it through to the middle (from the left side),” Nesbitt said. “It ricocheted, I got a couple of touches and then hit it with all I’ve got.”

After that, it was up to the defense, which limited Pleasant Valley’s scoring chances. The Spartans (15-5) managed only seven shots.

“We were trying to limit their touches,’ Nesbitt said. “We really needed to slow them down.”

Westlund admitted that it was tough for the Spartans to bounce back only three days after knocking off second-ranked Bettendorf to reach the state tournament.

“I think we all were on an emotional high after that,” she said. “But we didn’t let it go to our heads.

“(Thursday’s loss) still is going to be frustrating and disappointing because we didn’t put the ball in the net.”

Jon Gremmels can be contacted at (563) 383-2294 or at jgremmels@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at www.qctimes.com.