Crater's Rylin Norwood gains control of the ball against Thurston's Delaney Antone Saturday in Central Point.

If the first goal by Crater sophomore Maycee Samuelson left Thurston questioning its validity, she left no doubt on her second tally to lead the Comets to their first win over the Colts in five years.

Samuelson scored on a breakaway just 8 ½ minutes into Saturday’s Midwestern League girls soccer match and then broke a tie with her second goal with only two minutes remaining for a 2-1 triumph at Dutch Meyer Field in Central Point.

“It was a big win for the girls,” said first-year Crater head coach Michael Belzberg. “We’ve been playing all the 6A schools — we had five 6As in our preseason — and I think it paid off a little bit because you’re playing all these tough teams and you’re losing but you’re getting better and you’re growing.”

Samuelson took fifth-ranked Thurston by surprise a little in a counter attack following a corner kick by the Colts. The Comets (4-4-1, 1-0 MWL) were able to push back the ball out following the kick but not so much that Thurston (6-3, 0-1) went into full retreat, so when Ella Heppner won the ball and looked ahead, the field was relatively open as Samuelson could be found hanging out just in front of the midfield line.

Heppner punched the ball ahead and Samuelson was off to the races before sending a low shot into the left corner of the net.

“It was a great counter goal,” said Belzberg. “I think Ella just looked up and saw her and just played it forward. I think that they thought she was offsides but she was at the half so I don’t know if they knew that. That was kind of their mistake but we capitalized. Maycee just finished really well though, too. She just took it down and passed it inside the corner, and that’s not easy to do.”

That score held up until 5 ½ minutes into the second half, when Thurston’s Macy Taylor was able to uncork a sneaky shot from 26 yards out that was pushed up by the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Payshens Cichy but fell inside the goal as the junior fell back with the effort.

Prior to that, Cichy had held up well under a wealth of pressure put forth by the Colts.

“She gave up that goal and I was worried about her and thought she might put her head down and she didn’t,” said Belzberg, who was a goalkeeper by trade in his playing days at South Medford High and Linfield University. “She totally did a great job and picked her head back up and kept playing.”

“It’s really tough as a goalkeeper when you give up a big goal to kind of recenter yourself and refocus and she did amazing,” he added. “I’m the first one to say that I’ve given up a goal and you just keep beating yourself up over it rather than play the next one, but she did an awesome job of keeping her composure and getting it done.”

That helped open the door for more late heroics from the Comets, who got a late pressing effort forward from Autumn Jackson on a quality shot on goal with about 3 ½ minutes remaining and then another run by Jackson that led to Samuelson’s final tally.

After making a good dribbling run with the ball with two minutes to play, Jackson fed Samuelson from the right side into the middle of the pitch. After a quick one-two combo, Samuelson created space to her left and then fired a no-doubt rocket off her left foot into the upper portion of the goal beyond the reach of Thurston goalkeeper Gabriella Montes for the match-winner.

“She just kind of came up really big there at the end,” Belzberg said of Jackson. “She came down and created a really good shot for herself and then she made a really great drive and just had a great pass to Maycee and she finished it, it was just fantastic.”

Samuelson grew up in Central Point but played last season for South Medford before transferring back to Crater in the offseason.

“She’s a great goal-scorer,” said Belzberg, who previously coached the North Medford boys soccer program. “She decided to come back and, boy, are we glad that she did. She’s a great finisher.”

“That’s big-time when you can have somebody like that,” he added. “It reminds me of Caleb Forte when I had him at North. You could almost count on him for at least one or two or three (goals) a game. It’s really awesome to have a player like that.”

Belzberg hopes Saturday’s effort will help springboard Crater to bigger and better as the Comets head into the second half of the regular season.

“I don’t know that they understand that they’re getting better until they get results,” said Belzberg. “I think they’ll get a little more wind in their sails with the win. I think it means a lot for the team, and all those girls feel that we can compete with anybody if we can beat the No. 5 team.”

Cross Country

HARRIER CLASSIC: At Albany, South Medford senior Devon Scott placed 16th in the 5,000-meter boys race in 16 minutes, 22.29 seconds to edge Ashland senior Bjorn Austbo (16:25.98) and help lead the Panthers to a third-place finish in the team standings.

Ezra Dixon of South Medford finished 19th (16:28.80) and Eli Dixon was 26th (16:46.81) to help bolster the team effort. Central Catholic was the leading scorer with 64 points, followed by Glencoe (93) and South Medford (122).

South Medford’s girls team placed eighth overall behind winning Westview, with senior Cyerra Mejia leading her team (33rd, 20:33.93).

Ashland freshman Natalie Kupka was the leading local finisher in the girls race, closing in 13th place at 18:57.04. Teammate Mackenzie Schmidt placed 15th (19:05.38).

STAN GOODELL INVITATIONAL: At Murphy, Crater freshman Garrett Faught finished runner-up in the boys race to Hidden Valley’s Peter Moline to help boost the Comets to a team victory.

Faught crossed in 18:05.04 behind Moline (17:35.54), with Crater teammates Adam Keller (18:52.57) and Royal Linthorst (19:08.27) also posting top-10 marks. Cascade Christian junior Isaac Young finished fourth in 18:37.51, with Nash Crisp of the Challengers coming in seventh (18:52.67).

Crater sophomore Grace Havniear finished sixth overall in the girls race (23:00.31) and junior teammate Kara Loftus was eighth (23:19.74) to help the Comets wind up second to Grants Pass in the team standings.

Senior Nettle Grey won the 5,000-meter race for the Cavers in 20:26.42, and Cascade Christian junior Madyson Winters led her team by placing 10th (23:26.08).