Plains soccer draws against St. Regis

PLAINS – Boys and girls hustled from one side of the pitch to the other as Plains Youth Soccer held its first home match of the year against the youth squad from St. Regis.

The field between the Plains High School softball infield and football field was utilized for the weekend match on Saturday, Sept. 20.

The teams kicked off the contest around noon and Plains loaned St. Regis a few players, since the visitors had only traveled with a team of eight, to ensure the teams were able to compete.

The match ended in a 1-1 draw.

The weekend match marked Plains third contest of the year after a couple of games in Thompson Falls and the team’s head coach, Josh Feenstra said he was excited by the improvement he has seen in his squad.

“The team is clearly improving,” Feenstra said.

After a quiet first half of play on Saturday, where both sides saw their share of offensive chances and set pieces the second 45 minutes turned into a pell-mell rush for both sides.

St. Regis broke the deadlock in the opening minutes of the second half breaking through the Plains defense and putting the ball in the back of the net to seize the lead.

However, the visitor’s time in control was short lived as the Plains forwards brought the ball up and striker Anna Dryden delivered on a cross to equalize the match at one goal a piece.

The intensity of the contest grew through the final ten minutes as Plains rallied for several promising scoring opportunities, but all were turned away by the St. Regis goalkeeper, a late substitution who took over after the keep who started the second half for St. Regis left with an injury.

Plains final and most promising opportunity came in the final seconds of the match when forward Aaron Collins struck a beautiful shot from just outside the 18-yard box.

Collins’ strike looked as if it was destined to end its path in the back of the goal’s netting.

Nevertheless, the young keeper playing for St. Regis had different ideas and he jumped to his right, extending to meet the ball above his head and prevent Plains from scoring the go ahead goal as time expired and the referee blew his whistle to mark the end of the match.

Feenstra was proud of how his team competed to the end and worked hard throughout the match to generate scoring chances.

“The team’s willingness to go out there and play hard is great,” Feenstra said.

The coach added in future practices the team would work on ball control and shot accuracy to try and build off of the success they experienced on offense during Saturday’s afternoon match.

This year the Plains U18 and U15 squads combine to number 30 players and Feenstra has experimented with some new coaching methods to accommodate the size of his team.

The coach said he has started doing substitutions in the style of hockey line changes where the whole team is switched out for reserves to ensure all his players get a shot at time on the pitch during their season matches.

Growing up in Alberta Feenstra has some experience with hockey tactics.

The coach also has a great deal of experience with soccer as he played the sport for years before beginning as a coach.

The opening match for Plains was well attended with fans lining the field.