Northview Titans Junior Varsity Girls Game Summaries
Northview v Duluth - 3-0
April 10th, 2006
The Lady Titans JV soccer team (4-1-1) returned from Spring Break with a dominating 3-0 road win over the Wildcats of Duluth (1-5). And while it was not always a thing of beauty, the Northview girls took care of business when they needed to and secured their 5th shutout of the season.
Things got off to a quick start when Northview took their first shot on goal just 30 seconds into the match. The shot was wide, but it raised hopes that the girls would show no adverse consequences from the vacation and play with aggression. Just two minutes later, another shot was taken but the angle was a bit too sharp and it sailed wide of the mark as well. In fact, throughout the first 20 minutes of the game, the Lady Titans had ample opportunities to score as they really had their way with the porous Wildcat defense. But they could not capitalize as the Duluth goalie made play after play, or shots were off the mark. Typically the Northview girls were their own worst enemy, becoming more lethargic as the game wore on – it was apparent that they were not playing with much intensity.
Meanwhile, the Titan defense easily shut down any and every Duluth threat. Led by goalkeeper Gracie Kessenich, first-time stopper Rae Mueller, Rachel Wilson, Haley Nelson, Caitlin Swindall and Mara Hamilton continuously turned away the Wildcat offense.
With just under nine minutes to go in the half, forward Hillary Millard faked out her Duluth mark, pivoted and fired a left-footed shot towards the far post. This one was on target, and finally the Lady Titans were on the board. The attack continued for the remainder of the half – including two near misses by Olivia Alonso, playing some solid midfield instead of her usual keeper position. But no more shots were converted, and Northview went into the half with a precarious 1-0 lead.
The girls started the second half right where they left off, with ample scoring opportunities coming early and often but with no success. One could not help but feel that the longer the Lady Titans let Duluth hang around, the more dangerous the Wildcats would become. And credit is to be given to the Wildcat goalie who made three outstanding plays in the fist eight minutes to deny Northview another score.
Then, with 18:00 minutes remaining Millard again got through the defense, fired a perfect pass to Stephanie Andino who shot it in for the sure goal. Now with a 2-0 lead, the Northview faithful could breathe a little easier. Yet the Lady Titans were not quite through. The midfielders got into the action as well as Sarah Gibson, Lisa Johnson, Kellie Aarons and Anna Kornmayer all took aim on the goal, but each time just a little off target. With ten minutes to go, Northview strung together a series of beautiful passes (initiated by Tara Holland) that eventually ended up with a lead out pass to Andino who put it away for the third and final goal of the game. It was easily one of the prettiest sequences of the year!
Ultimately it was good to see the girls dominate a team while obviously not 100% on their game, and with some girls playing out of their natural positions. Kudos to Coach Conner for having the girls as ready to play as possible with little to no preparation!
Final score: Northview 3, Duluth 0.
