Last Wednesday’s soccer game against defending EPC champion Allentown Central Catholic provided an early season benchmark for a team that has rolled up some big scores against some lesser competition.

While the K-Kids did ultimately fall to the Vikettes 2-0, they were by no means dominated. That bodes well for the inexperienced Northampton team to have a chance to gel by season’s end to make a run at defending their District XI 4A title.

Alana Ho put the visitors on top with a clean goal from short range just 9:44 into the contest. The first half was played mostly in the midfield as both teams went into halftime having registered just two shots on goal, but Central up 1-0.

The Vikettes scored an insurance goal with 23:32 left in the game when Elise Eisenhard converted a nice cross.

“I think we probably could have played a little bit better, given them a little bit more of a challenge. But you know, they’re a very good team and we have to find ways to challenge the goalkeeper. So we didn’t really challenge the goalkeeper. If we get that part of our game going, just creating opportunities inside the box, we would have had better chances to score,” explained head coach Trojano Bastidas.

On the defensive end, Bastidas praised goalkeeper Grace Caulwell, who made a pair of spectacular sliding saves in the second half to thwart breakaways by the Vikettes, “I thought we played very well obviously. Grace had two outstanding saves. That was good for her, good for her confidence. Overall, the defensive effort was very, very good.”

The K-Kids are 4-1 on the young season, having outscored their foes 25-3. With a few of the weaker EPC teams in the rearview mirror, Northampton will have a chance over the next few weeks to establish their place in the league pecking order.

Bastidas provided his thoughts on the team going forward, “I think it’s just a matter of time. It’s getting the players varsity experience. I think that’s going to be our greatest challenge. If we do that, I think we’ll be able to compete with all of the teams, but we definitely have to be sharp. That’s the key. We have to be sharper than we were today.”