Northview Titans Junior Varsity Girls Game Summaries

Northview v Centennial - 5-0
April 13th, 2006

In their last home game of the season, the Northview JV girls’ soccer team entertained the Centennial Knights on an unseasonably warm Thursday evening. And the Lady Titans proved to be just as hot as the weather by turning in one of their more balanced performances of the year en route to a convincing 5-0 victory. The offense was led by Stephanie Andino’s four goals, while Gracie Kessenich, Caitlin Swindall, Haley Nelson and Kate Dixon anchored the defense. Meanwhile, Rae Mueller split time between center midfield and stopper, proving to be a force on both sides of the ball.

The game opened with some intense, physical play in the middle of the field and Centennial initially getting the best of Northview. In fact, for the first few minutes the Lady Titans failed to cross the midfield stripe. Then with 31:00 showing on the clock, Andino broke free on a solo attack down the right sideline, beat her opponent to the corner and made a beeline towards the goal. The shot sailed past the goalie and into the back of the net for an early 1-0 lead.

A little less than two minutes later, Mueller sent a picture perfect corner kick in front of the Knights goal. Anna Kornmayer got a head on it, but the ball was deflected to the ground but right at the feet of Andino. Just like that, it was a 2-0 lead for Northview. Then, at the 21:00 mark the ever- opportunistic Andino perfectly timed yet another beautiful corner from Mueller and headed it past the defenseless Centennial keeper to make the score 3-0. Less than 15 minutes into the game Stephanie Andino had her second hat trick of the season!

But the Lady Titans were not through. With about 13 minutes to go before the break, Hillary Millard scored when she ricocheted a loose ball in front of the goal off a defender and into the goal. Comfortably ahead 4-0, the Lady Titans midfield and defense continued to squelch any scoring opportunities. Centennial’s best chance to get on the board in the first period came at the 11:50 mark when a Northview handball gave them a free kick just outside the 18. But the ensuing shot sailed just above the crossbar and the half ended with no change in the score.

Half number two got underway with continued excellent, aggressive play from Northview. After a couple of missed opportunities earlier, the offense got back in the groove when midfielder Kellie Aarons led out Andino on the right side. Stephanie got to the ball just ahead of the defender and fired an off-balance but cannon-like shot from outside the box. Like a laser the ball blew past the keeper and she had her fourth goal of the night -- for a commanding 5-0 lead.

Now deep in the hole with 25 minutes still to play, the Knights fought on and resorted to even more physical play, but to no avail. A perfect illustration of their frustration came when a Centennial striker broke free down the left side of the field and appeared to have an unimpeded lane to our goal – only to have the ball knocked away at the last moment by a beautiful open field slide tackle by Caitlin Swindall. The ensuing corner was cleared up field to Mueller who in turn appeared to have wide open access to the goal. However, a Centennial defender took her out with no apparent pretense of playing the ball. The Northview faithful looked for the yellow card, and were stunned that not even a foul was called!

The remainder of the game saw no change in score, but no let up in effort from the Lady Titans either. Mueller continued to send corner kicks arcing in front of the goal, and shots were taken and just missed by Millard, Lisa Johnson and Kate Dixon (on a header). The final score stood at 5-0 in favor of Northview.

With the victory, the Lady Titans JV squad moved to 6-1-1 on the year, including six stifling shutouts by the defense. Up next for Northview is a very tough Collins Hill team who will undoubtedly give the girls everything they can handle – and then some.