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October 19, 2012

H.S. GIRLS SOCCER: Eagles cruise past ’Dogs

By Drew Karpen The Meadville Tribune

October 19, 2012 7:00 a.m. MEADVILLE — The conditions at Bender Field on Thursday night gave the Meadville versus Grove City girls soccer game a sense of a backyard get-together between friends. Rain was pouring down over the leaf-filled field.

But that was the farthest from the truth.

“It brings a completely different element to the game,” Meadville head coach Elyse Kebert said about the rainy conditions. “You can’t just anticipate these things happening. In some cases it can help you, but it can also hurt you.”

In the Region 2 regular season finale, it was evident that Meadville was having problems with the playing conditions, losing 6-2 to Grove City.

It wasn’t all bad for the Bulldogs (7-10, 2-8 Region 2), as they jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. Two minutes into the contest, Meadville junior Ellie Holmgren found herself in the right place at the right time.

After a rebound got away from Eagles goalkeeper Olivia Andrews, Holmgren found herself staring at a wide open net and delivered.

“A lot of times we play to the level that our opponents are playing at,” Grove City head coach Matt Nichols said. “We don’t necessarily go 100 percent to the ball.”

If an early deficit was the wakeup call that coach Nichols’ team needed, it worked.

After threatening to score numerous times, the Eagles (11-5, 7-3 Region 2) finally broke through with 31:54 remaining in the first half. Kalie Davis delivered a through pass to Julie DiStasi, who chipped it over the sliding Ashleigh Piper to tie the score.

Ten minutes later, Davis would take control of the game, scoring the first of her four goals on the night. After receiving the ball in the left side of the box, Davis bent one around the keeper, finding the back of the net for a 2-1 lead.

“Kalie (Davis) had a caliber of flair that we are not accustomed too,” Kebert said. “You have to learn during the game against a player like that.”

The Bulldogs were able to weather the storm for the next 12 minutes. Piper made a couple miraculous saves on breakaways by Grove City’s DiStasi and Mariah Treiber.

With the momentum on its side, Meadville tied up the game at 2 on a goal by Lena Potschya from the top of the box. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, that momentum quickly faded toward the Eagles.

In a span of 94 seconds, Grove City scored three goals, splitting the game wide open. DiStasi got the scoring rolling with her second goal of the game, giving the Eagles a 3-2 lead just 14 seconds after the Bulldogs tied it up.

Davis would then take control by scoring a breakaway goal, and then on a beautifully-placed floater over Piper’s outstretched arms.

Just before the end of the half, Davis recorded her fourth goal of the game off a corner kick, giving the Eagles a 6-2 advantage.

“It was just a matter of speed,” Kebert said. “Our defenders just could not keep up with them.”

The main culprit of why the Bulldogs’ defense was struggling throughout the game was Davis.

“She is always big,” coach Nichols said about his playmaker. “She has been one of our biggest attacks all year. We try to put her in a position to score. Every game we look to try to take advantage of our speed and play to attack.”

The Eagles laid off the attack in the second half, holding on to its comfortable four-goal lead and the win. They out-shot the Bulldogs 16-11.

Kebert realizes that going into the offseason, there are a few holes she would like her team to fill.

“We need to get better at transitioning,” Kebert said. “They get stuck in defensive mode and they forget in order to win a game, you need to score goals. We need to do a lot of practicing going both ways using the entire length of the field.”

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