TodayHounds survive Blue Devils
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Article RatingDon’t ever take a victory for granted, even if the opposition has one win on the season.
That’s the lesson the Shippensburg Lady Hound soccer team learned on Thursday night in its game against visiting Greencastle-Antrim at Shippensburg University’s David See Field.
Luckily for the Lady Hounds, they didn’t have to learn that lesson the hard way, as they overcame an early 1-0 deficit to defeat the Blue Devils 2-1.
“We came out a little flat at the beginning,” admitted Shippensburg head coach Warren Jones.
The Lady Hounds attacked the Blue Devil goal early but came up empty. After the ball was cleared to the midfield Blue Devil burner Caroline Gleason streaked down the field and found herself one-on-one with Ship goalkeeper Beth Ann Cote.
Gleason attacked Cote from the left side and fired a line drive to the right side of the goal, just out of the reach of Cote, to put Greencastle ahead 1-0.
A year ago the Lady Hounds may have wilted under such a situation. But, a year later and more mature Ship didn’t hang its collective head.
“We’ve been down by a goal a couple times this year,” Jones said. “But these girls still have fight in them, even when they’re down. I don’t think you’ll find this team folding and giving up.”
“I was happy with the last 10 minutes of the first half,” Jones added. “We passed the ball and started to find each other.”
Eventually, with 1:48 remaining in the first half, the Lady Hounds’ Katie Shoop found Rachel Brubaker right in front of the Greencastle net. Brubaker took the perfectly-placed pass and popped it into the back of the goal to tie the game.
“Katie did all the work there,” Brubaker said. “I just stood in front of the goal and waited for the ball.”
Shippensburg took its momentum into halftime and didn’t let up in the second half, spending most of the period in Blue Devil territory.
Finally, with 29:11 remaining to play, Brubaker blasted the decisive goal from deep, launching the ball over three pesky Greencastle defenders and watching her shot bend past Blue Devil goalkeeper Whitney Nave (5 saves).
“As soon as she hit that ball, I thought it was a good goal,” Jones said. “It was a great shot at the right time.”
Brubaker said her childhood taught her how to take the shot.
“Growing up and playing soccer with an older brother and having to take wild shots helped me there,” Brubaker said. “I did a little touch out on the ball and felt where the goal was.”
The Blue Devils had a hard time mounting a comeback, let alone getting the ball onto Ship’s side of the field, but when they did, a calmed-down Cote (3 saves) turned away their shots down the stretch.
“Not only has she grown physically, but mentally as well,” Jones said. “She’s become a very good student of the game. She made a couple big saves for us tonight.”
Shippensburg, now 7-2-2, will play another night game on Thursday against Milton Hershey. Game time is 7:30.
