The Lake Roosevelt Raiders girls’ soccer team is learning the sport from the ground up. The girls played their first game Sept. 8, losing to formidable Brewster, 11-0.

Despite the loss to the Bears, who LR Head Coach Casey Moore says is going to be one of the top teams in the district, Moore is very proud of the way her team played.

“They didn’t give up the whole game, despite being down by so much,” she said. “They pushed themselves very hard.”

The Raiders played with only 12 players on the team that game, including one with a minor injury, and two eighth-graders, requiring that all but one stayed on the field the entire game.

Their second game, against Oroville, went better, although they lost 4-1. Madisyn Toulou scored the goal for the Raiders in the first half of the game.

“Our team played well,” Coach Moore said, “We had really strong passing, but we definitely need to work on defense. They had a lot of shots on our goal, but our goalie, Wensday Antoine, did an excellent job.”

“The girls have learned an enormous amount in just two weeks,” Coach Moore said. “Only two of them have played competitive soccer before, so they are having to learn everything from field positions to all the techniques for defense, passing, just everything. We need to get the fundamentals down first before we can focus more on conditioning.”

There are now 20 players on the soccer team, including the two eighth-graders. Moore is looking forward to having more eligible players, which will give her more options and will give players time to catch their breath on the sidelines.

“I think we are where we should be as a team that is just starting out. Once they get better at the fundamentals and we work on our defense, I’m really hopeful for the second half of the season, that we’ll be getting some wins,” Moore said.

The Raiders played their first home game Tuesday against Manson, winning 3-0 in their first victory. LR kicked things off with two goals in the first half, one each from Loryn Moore and Madisyn Toulou. Another goal from Moore late in the second half finished the game.

“It feels amazing,” Coach Moore said. “It was a well-deserved win because they all played extremely well. They all played their positions and were smart about their passing. They played as a team.”