Aberdeen Central was determined to play the contest on its terms Tuesday evening.

The Golden Eagles were quicker to the ball, pressured Sioux Jefferson at every turn, and walked away with a 2-0 non-conference girls’ soccer victory at Brownell Activities Complex.

“We were way more aggressive than we were on Friday (in a loss to Pierre), and that’s the key to success in soccer,” said Central coach Merle Aske. “If you’re not the aggressive team, then you’re going to be on your heels, and then you’re scrambling and out of position all the time.”

The Eagles played most of the game on the Jefferson side the pitch. It was a stark contrast to their season opener last weekend.

“We were able to hold the ball a lot better, we moved the ball around a lot better. We just kept pressure on them,” Aske said. “We got into situations where we were actually getting more shots off and doing things the way we want to play. The girls did a good job of making the adjustments from Friday, and just going out and playing a solid game.”

Still, the game was scoreless until 52nd minute when Lilly Nelson headed a perfect corner kick from Keyana Stillman into the back of the net to put Central on the board.

Nelson tried to explain the sequence that gave the Eagles their first lead of the season.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Nelson said. “I just kind of hoped for the best and closed my eyes, and then went for it afterwards.”

So Nelson didn’t actually see her first ever varsity goal?

“I opened my eyes and then I saw it in the back of the net,” Nelson said, “and I was like I can celebrate now.”

Central had numerous corners throughout the contest, which again was a complete opposite of last week’s contest.

“That was a good corner. Put it in a good spot,” Aske said. “We actually headed the ball three or four times on the offensive end today and last Friday didn’t head the ball at all. It was good we’re actually attacking the ball now and that’s what we need to do to get better.”

The Eagles tacked on another goal with 16 seconds left as Gracie Lozenski broke free and found the back of the net.

Central finished with 25 shots in all, 13 on goal, compared to just one shot on goal for the Cavaliers.

“That’s what we talked about. Sometimes you’ve got to get 10-15 shots to get one, but the biggest thing was, I was really happy that not only did that happen, but we shut them down on the backside, because we gave up way too many shots to Pierre,” Aske said. “The girls did a good job adjusting and keeping them off the ball and stepping to it when they were in our attacking third, stepping to the ball and not giving them clean looks.”

Nelson, a junior forward, said it felt good to get off a number of shots, even though just a couple resulted in goals.

“It felt better to take shots, because in Pierre it was like kickball, like no one shot it at all,” Nelson said. “It was just who can get it up the field the quickest.”

The Eagles made sure that did not happen in their home opener.

“I know we were really hungry for that win,” Nelson said. “We were talking about it at practice, after our game on Friday on the bus. That wasn’t how we normally play in Pierre.”

Central travels to Brookings for an Eastern South Dakota Conference contest on Saturday.

Sioux Falls Jefferson 0 0 – 0

Aberdeen Central 0 2 – 2

First Half: no scoring.

Second Half: 1, AC, Lilly Nelson (Keyana Stillman), 52nd minute; 2, AC, Gracie Lozenski, 79th minute.

Shots: Sioux Falls Jefferson 7, 1 on goal; Aberdeen Central 25, 13 on goal.

Goalies: Sioux Falls Jefferson, Nora Weaver (10 saves); Aberdeen Central, Taylor Thorstenson (1 save).