LANGLEY — Momentum left South Whidbey after Granite Falls scored its second goal. Falcon senior midfielder Makenzie Peterson left the game shortly thereafter in a 1-2 loss for the Falcons in girls soccer.
Peterson, a co-captain, collided with a Tiger defender as they both chased down a loose ball. The impact left a gash on Peterson’s forehead about two inches long, just above her eyebrow.
“Me and a girl were going up for a header and I got the ball and she got my head, I think, with her head,” Peterson said.
The game stopped for almost 30 minutes as school trainer Jim Christensen tended to her. An ambulance arrived and emergency medical technicians stabilized her neck and head, a standard precaution for those with head injuries. Then she was taken to the emergency room at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett for stitches.
“I’m really grateful to everyone who helped, especially Jim Christensen,” said Falcon head coach Ben Rusch.
The injury catalyzed the Falcons, though it didn’t result in another goal.
“The girls were pretty driven after that happened,” Rusch said. “They had high energy.”
After a scoreless first half, frustrations mounted for the Falcons who wanted to avenge an earlier 0-4 loss to the Tigers. Senior forward Cortney Fredriksen scored first on a through ball as she passed her defender and bumped through the Tigers’ goalkeeper.
“She’d been saying all night she was going to score a goal,” Rusch said.
Tiger junior forward Kaila Green scored in the 60th minute. A pass bounced high in front of Falcon goalkeeper Ellie Greene, and as she stepped out to challenge for it, Green tipped it into the net.
“It was a goal that probably shouldn’t have happened,” Rusch said.
“I believe we were beating that team. When we got scored on, it changed the game and the momentum went the other way.”
Green scored the decisive goal five minutes later to push the score to 2-1.
“We’ve given up two one-goal leads at home,” Rusch said. “They haven’t quite realized how good they are and that they have to pick it up a level once they get scored on.”
Things got even worse for the Falcons as an errant pass went between Peterson and the Tigers defender and the two collided.
“We had just gotten down and I was a little bit frustrated,” Peterson said. “I wasn’t going to stand there and watch her get it.”
The wound bled, a lot. The shock set in once she felt the cut above her left eyebrow.
“It didn’t hurt that much,” Peterson said. “I mean it hurt, but the tear in my anterior cruciate ligament was more painful. I felt my head where it was hit, and there was just a pile of blood on it. That’s when I started to freak out.”
Fredriksen applied pressure to slow the bleeding as they waited for the ambulance. The team’s bond showed during and after the injury.
Fredriksen and senior Brianna Haimes traveled to Everett to visit Peterson at the hospital. She had only arrived about 8, and they were there by 10 p.m. They took her a large card signed by the team, plus flowers and balloons.
“I was very surprised,” Peterson said. “I had no idea how they could have gotten all that stuff and arrived at the hospital in that amount of time.”
She may not be out of action for long, however. The stitches will be removed Monday, and she will be able to play Tuesday against Lakewood.
“She’s a really tough girl,” Rusch said. “I thought she’d be out for at least a week, two weeks or the rest of the season as a head injury.”
As a team captain, Peterson traveled with the team Thursday to play Sultan.
She cheered for her team from the sidelines during the Falcons’ victory at Sultan on Thursday night.
Late goals put the Falcons ahead 2-0 as the defense held for the win. Senior defenders Amanda Lutsock and Brianna Haimes both scored in the second half. Lutsock scored on a corner kick in the 55th minute and Haimes booted in a penalty kick in the 73rd.
The win improved the Falcons to 3-6-0 in conference games and 4-6-0 overall.
