Howland falls 3-0 against unbeaten West Branch
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HOWLAND -- It's been all or nothing for the Howland girls soccer team so far in 2026.
The Tigers entered Wednesday having shut out two opponents and getting shut out once themselves.
That pattern continued when West Branch came to town, with the Tigers falling 3-0.
"We're working with a brand new coaching staff and brand new positioning on the field," Howland head coach Mandie Washington said. "It's a transition year. Each one of my athletes is required to play at least two positions on this field, so it's gonna be a lot of mixing and matching. Our end goal is, ultimately, to be competitive at the end of the season and make a run for state."
The first 20 minutes were mostly confined to the midfield, but the Warriors opened the scoring with 18:57 to play before halftime. Elli Colian got behind the defense and scored the first goal of the game. Fifty seconds later, Hensley Biery found the back of the net to increase West Branch's lead to 2-0.
From that point, the Warriors (4-0) got aggressive offensively. They hemmed the Tigers in their own third of the field, and Howland never created any high-danger scoring chances for the rest of the half.
Emma Klingensmith nearly had another goal for the Warriors, but her attempt from roughly 25 yards out hit the bottom half of the crossbar and bounced back into the field of play.
"For female athletes in high school, a lot of it is a mental game," Washington said. "Sometimes when you get undercut in the first half, it takes a little bit of the edge off of their forward focus."
The Warriors pushed their lead to 3-0 when Colian scored her second goal of the night 13 minutes into the second half. Colian fired a shot from 20 yards away and Howland goalkeeper Kaiden Fox got part of the ball, but it still found the top of the net for a score.
Even when Howland (2-2) created scoring opportunities in the second half, West Branch's back line recovered quickly. The Warriors would either clear the ball or generate a turnover to minimize stress on goalie Audrey Eaton.
"Our center mids need to work on their pace," Washington said. "We did have several seniors graduate last year, so there's a lot of varsity starters this year that are in newer positions in that center that are going to have to work on working up to varsity-level pace."
That wasn't the case for Fox on the other side of the field. She finished the night with seven saves, including a couple diving stops to give her team a chance.
"We have a really strong defensive back line. I think that's one of the reasons we hold on the way we do on the field," Washington said. "What we have to work on now is our central defensive line and getting our offense moving that ball past our 50."