TodayGirls' Soccer: Bulldogs bring end to Eagles' District 3 run
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Article RatingWhat a difference a bounce here and there can make.
On Thursday at Cumberland Valley, the Wilson Bulldogs got plenty of them. The Eagles, not so much. And the end result was a 3-0 Wilson victory in a District 3-AAA girls' soccer game.
The gauntlet was thrown a mere 80 seconds into the contest, which had been postponed from Wednesday. The Bulldogs pushed the ball into their offensive third right away, and the Eagles appeared to clear an early challenge. But somehow, Wilson sophomore standout Ali Miller picked up the ball about 30 yards out, turned, and fired. The ball skimmed just between the crossbar and the outstreteched fingertips of Eagles goalie Sam Deliere, and, just like that, Cumberland Valley was fighting to regain some momentum.
“We've seen them play before,” Eagles coach Ed Batitsta said of the Bulldogs. “So we were somewhat prepared for a physical game, and a physical style of play. We saw (Miller) against Lower Dauphin, and we thought we were prepared for her. But after that first goal, when she broke loose - she got a pick on somebody and took and nice, high, left-footed shot to beat our goalie - that kind of put us down.”
Down, but not entirely out.
For the remainder of the first half, the Eagles (9-7-1) played like the better team. They let the ball go to work for them, and made the Bulldogs (19-3-2) play serious defense.
Meanwhile, their own defense was busy doing a number on Miller.
“After that first goal, I don't think (Miller) did much else,” Batista said. “We put (Meghan) O'Grady on her in the midfield, and O'Grady really shut her down. So (Wilson coach Tim Fick) put Miller back up top against Mary Kate Lowry. Now, Miller's faster than Lowry, but she still didn't get anything else.”
Not surprising. Though Lowry might be a smidge slower than Miller, the sophomore defender is known as one of the better marking backs in the Mid-Penn.
Lowry also had a hand in a play that might have turned Thursday's game in the Eagles' favor.
Six minutes into the second half, Lowry fired a ball into the box close to the goalmouth. It was picked up by senior forward Kaitlyn Gould, who had a reasonably open shot against Bulldogs keeper Brittany Melnyk. Gould pivoted, released - and hit the left post. The ball caromed away from the cage and Wilson was able to clear it.
It was the story of the day for the Eagles.
“I think we had some great opportunities,” Batista said. “Even when it was 1-0, we had some great opportunities, but just couldn't make anything work.
Less than five minutes after the ball hit the post, Wilson sapped further momentum from Cumberland Valley. Sophomore Jesse Ebner broke away, got off a shot on Deliere, caught her own rebound and skipped it over Deliere's left shoulder for a 2-0 advantage, amid cries of “Handball!” from the Eagles faithful.
Cumberland Valley got one more really solid chance at the net shortly thereafter. Again, the Eagles' passing was crisp and spot-on, and the ball hummed dangerously near the net. However, it squirted straight across the goalmouth and out of Melnyk's grasp, and as it rolled away the Bulldogs again got to it first and cleared it.
“I actually thought this was one of our better games in terms of passing,” Batista said. “I thought we passed the ball to death. But nobody was shooting, and we just couldn't finish anything.”
Wilson notched one more insurance goal with 12 minutes to play, as Olivia Yoh converted a feed from Amanda Nigrelli.
