Hawks rally to notch season-opening win

The Horizon Christian girls soccer team opens play with a 2-1 road victory

The Times, Sep 11, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

PORTLAND — The Horizon Christian High School girls soccer team got its season off to a flying start.

The Hawks opened the 2008 season by scoring a dramatic come-from-behind 2-1 win over Portland Christian in a non-league match played last Thursday at Portland Christian.

“It was a huge win to start the season,” Horizon Christian coach Corey Hand said. “We’ve played Portland Christian every year since the school opened and we never beat them before.”

In last Thursday’s match, Portland Christian grabbed a 1-0 lead with a goal midway through the first half. The Royals still held the 1-0 advantage going into halftime.

But Horizon Christian, which played a strong first half, turned things up another notch in the second half.

“The girls came out in the second half and it was probably the best half we’ve ever had,” Hand said. “I’d say 90 percent of the second half was played on Portland Christian’s side of the field.

With 16 minutes left in the match, the Hawks were able to tie up the contest. Horizon Christian senior center midfielder Deanna Ulrich started the scoring play with a cross toward the center of the field. Junior forward Sarah Brucker kept the play alive, winning a 50/50 ball and knocking it toward freshman Maggie Bachhuber.

From there, Bachhuber put a shot into the back of the net to knot up the match at 1-1.

Freshman Lizzie Ng scored the game-winning goal for Horizon Christian with a free-kick tally coming with six minutes to play.

Ng, from about 35 yards away, hit a left-footed shot that curved inside the upper left corner of the Portland Christian goal.

“It was a great shot,” Hand said.

Horizon Christian will be back in action today (Thursday) when it plays at Corbett in a non-league match starting at 4:15 p.m. On Friday, the Hawks will host Seattle Academy at 4:15 p.m.