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Mitchell Girls Miss Shutout, But Remain Perfect

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By LARRY BUGG, Tribune correspondent

Published: November 10, 2007

LAND O' LAKES - It wasn't quite a perfect match for Mitchell High's girls soccer team Thursday night when they beat Land O' Lakes 5-1 at the Gators' field.

Yes, Mitchell (3-0 overall and in the Sunshine Athletic Conference) won, but it also gave up its first goal of the season.

Land O' Lakes' Claire Kurlychek hit a beauty to score that one, taking a pass from Amanda Goble and blasting the ball from 20 yards out. The ball sailed over Mitchell goalie Laura Seletos' head and under the crossbar.

Otherwise, it was business as usual for the Mustangs.

Mitchell forward Marisa Russo had a hat trick to lead the attack. Morgan Shellenberger and Shelby Wright also scored for the Mustangs. Russo assisted on Wright's goal.

Shellenberger scored first on a 15-yard unassisted boot in the game's first four minutes. Wright scored 14 minutes into the game, with Russo feeding the ball to her and Wright putting it in from 10 yards.
Russo sliced the ball in from 3 yards out with the game 17 minutes old. She added her second goal on a 15-yard shot 37 minutes into the game off a Shellenberger assist.

On the final Mustangs goal, Wright assisted, and Russo blasted a shot from 20 yards out. The game was 43 minutes old.

"I think that was a great shot," Russo said of Kurlychek's goal. "I think I played pretty well. I think I have 11 goals. They Land O' Lakes are a good team."

Mitchell outshot Land O' Lakes 16-10. Seletos had five saves, while Land O' Lakes goalie Tara Marshall had seven.

Land O' Lakes is 2-3 overall and 1-1 in conference play.

"The first half, they played very well," Mitchell coach Karl Kukec said of his team. "We had good passing. It was a good possession game.

"We tried out new things. Once you are up 4-0, you want to try different things. That's what we did. Overall, I'm happy with the way it went."

The Gators were short some players when they faced the Mustangs.

"They Mitchell are strong, a very solid team," said Land O' Lakes coach Vicky King. "We are a very young team. We start five freshmen, two sophomores. We are missing three key players. Kaitlyn Hodgins is out with an ankle injury. She hurt herself in club play. She'll be back next week. We are missing Kendra Nicholson with an illness. She'll be back next week. Brittany Nieves has a brother graduating from the Coast Guard Academy.

"We'll be there. We probably played better Thursday night than we did when we won a 1-0 win over Central High."

Mitchell will play at River Ridge on Friday in a game that Kukec thinks could decide the conference.

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