After suffering a tough 8-0 mercy-rule loss to Elsberry on April 17, the first words the assistant referee offered to the Warrenton girls soccer team were simple but sincere: “You guys played really hard.”

Despite the final score, the official praised the Warriors’ grit and work ethic, recognizing their effort even in defeat.

“We’ve had a rough season and a rough past couple of days, so we'll take those (compliments) when we get them,” coach Courtney Nenninger said. “We’ve had that ref saying, ‘I can tell how much you improved over the last couple of years and I can see how hard your girls are working.”

The score was not necessarily reflective of the Warriors’ performance, particularly in the second half, where they spent the majority of time on their offensive half. Warrenton ended the game with eight shots. 

“It was the mental toughness of our team, it’s hard to go down like that and stay in a game. For them to do that after the days we’ve had, that is only attributed to the team,” Nenninger said. “Just being able to stick in it and keep the pressure and want to at least survive the game as long as we did.” 

Warrenton trailed 5-0 at halftime but held Elsberry to just three goals in the second half. Nenninger said a slow start, especially within the opening 10 minutes, put the Warriors at a disadvantage early. 

However, she touted goalkeeper Kiera Daniel for her strong play in goal. Daniel had a few near-impossible saves where she was left for a 1v1 or 2v1 less than 10 feet from the goal. 

“She doesn’t have a lot of experience, believe it or not, but had she not had a couple huge saves in the first half, we would have been done by the end of the first half and already gone home,” Nenninger said. 

Daniel ended the game with eight saves. 

The Warriors also had some few adjustments at halftime, including changing their formation to a 4-5-1, that helped in limiting the Indians’ offensive play. 

“We changed our formation to clog up the middle because they had one really good girl who was dribbling straight down the middle,” Nenninger said. 

The adjustment paid off, as Nenninger noticed a marked improvement in the team’s ability to generate pressure and limit Elsberry’s attack.

“I thought our pressure got a lot better, so it probably helped give us more options in the middle and then work out from there,” she said. 

With the loss, the Warriors dropped to a 2-8 record on the season. Still, the team remains committed to progressing. 

“We’ll try and compare maybe to last season and see if we’ve had improvement on certain games against certain teams,” Nenninger said. “We have to keep it as positive as we can and point out the things we’re getting better at, or we won’t be able to last like we did today and stay mentally in the game.”