Northview Titans Junior Varsity Girls Game Summaries

Northview v Peachtree Ridge- 1-0
March 9th

The JV Lady Titans took to the road to battle the Lions of Peachtree Ridge in another sub-region match up. Northview (2-0) was looking to extend their winning ways, while the Lions (0-1-4) sought their first victory of the year. The four ties by Peachtree Ridge were all 0-0 games, so this match was certain to be a defensive battle -- as the Titans themselves were coming off two straight shut out victories.

Early on, it was apparent that the Lady Titans were not going to control the flow of the game as they had done in their first two contests. Peachtree Ridge seemed to be playing a more patient game, possessing the ball as well as winning the majority of the 50-50 plays. Taken out of their game somewhat, Northview began to depend more on the long ball in hopes of breaking through the Lions midfield and defense.

Although shut down to some extent, the Lady Titans’ forwards and midfielders had several opportunities to score. Stephanie Andino, Rae Mueller, Hillary Millard and Sarah Gibson all got good looks at the goal, only to send their shots just wide of the net or over the top. The girls also failed to take advantage of several corner kick opportunities. Meanwhile, the Northview defense, led by keeper Gracie Kessenich, turned away the aggressive Peachtree Ridge offense, taking the teams into the half all knotted at 0-0.

Coach Connor apparently had a persuasive talk with the girls at the break, because the Lady Titans picked up their intensity in the second half and began to regain control of the midfield, with Anna Kornmayer, Tara Holland Lisa Johnson and Kellie Aarons leading the effort. At the 33:00 mark, Johnson took the first shot of the half and sent the ball just over the Peachtree Ridge goal.

And the Northview defense tightened even more. At one point, a Peachtree Ridge striker broke through for what was certain to be a one on one opportunity against goalie Olivia Alonso – only to see the play squelched by sweeper Kate Dixon, who stole the ball and sent it deep and back across the midfield stripe.

All the while, the Lady Titans continued to decipher the opponent’s defense. Finally, with 16:10 remaining in the game, Millard faked out a Lions defender in the left corner and sailed a pass to Andino who sent a beautiful shot past the helpless Peachtree Ridge keeper for the score -- and a 1-0 lead. Ten minutes later, on a similar play, the Peachtree Ridge goalie made a nice play on Mueller’s shot, denying the Lady Titans a second score.

One final scare came as the clock wound down to just twenty seconds remaining in the game. Peachtree Ridge intercepted an errant pass and sent the ball to their center mid who stood unmarked just outside the 18. As the ball left her foot it looked to have a chance to go over Alonso’s head for the equalizing score, but stayed right of the goal and over the end line. By the time the ball was back in play, the horn sounded to end the game. Final score: Northview 1, Peachtree Ridge 0.

In addition to goalies Kessenich and Alonso, and the hard play of Dixon, the defensive effort put forth by Haley Nelson, Mara Hamilton, Kate Dixon, Caitlin Swindall, and Rachel Wilson contributed to preserve the girls’ third straight shutout.