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Curwensville girls soccer upends Brockway, 4-1
Thursday, September 13, 2012
By Andy Stine Sports Writer
CURWENSVILLE - There is no question that if you keep the ball in your opponent's zone for most of the 80 minutes in soccer, you have a key ingredient to success.
While the ball was in the Curwensville girls soccer team's possession for much of the first half, they only had one goal to show for it. But things started to roll its way in the second half with three goals in a 4-1 win over Brockway on Wednesday afternoon.
Krista Kolesar, Eileen Geisler and Tiara Bumbarger each scored in the second half to lift the Lady Tide.
Curwensville opened the scoring early in the first half, converting a converting corner kick.
Heather Thorp took the kick and placed it in the middle of a scrum in front of the goal. The ball found its way to the foot of Kelsey Greslick, who planted the ball in the goal at the 7:26 mark. Curwensville had eight corner kicks in the game, while Brockway didn't record any.
"That gets very intimidating when you have eight corner shots," said coach Thorp. "Credit their keeper for keeping a lot of shots out of the net."
The Lady Tide kept the ball on Brockway's side of the field for most of the first half, but were unable to up their advantage.
Coach Thorp put senior captain Rachel Hoover, who usually plays back on defense, in the midfield to see if she could help provide a spark for the Lady Tide on offense. Although Hoover did not show in the scoring column, Thorp was encouraged by her performance.
"Rachel wasn't feeling well today, but she was still useful enough to be able to have good ball handling skills," said Thorp. "She made some good touches and good crosses in the time that she was up there. With Heather (Thorp) and Cheyenne (Geisler) back at defense, they could control their two players with ease. I took a little chance to see if we could make something happen."
After dominating possession for a good part of the first half, Curwensville found itself on its heels just before the break as the Lady Rovers did make a run at the Lady Tide goal. Despite being at the other end, Brockway only had one shot in the half, which sailed over the net to keep it at 1-0 at the break.
"We're just a little bit inconsistent with the ball," said Thorp. "We have to get our consistency down."
Just five minutes into the second half, Brockway got on the board with a long kick from Julianna Esposito. Esposito received the ball from one of her defenders and launched a kick from just past midfield, placing it perfectly on the left side of the net. The goal was just one of four shots that Curwensville goalkeeper Tiffany Carter faced. Carter had two saves in the game.
Curwensville answered back and took the lead again just under four minutes later.
Mackenzie Winebold crossed the ball to Kolesar, who was crashing the net. The ball hit off Kolesar and went into the goal to give the Lady Tide a 2-1 lead.
"They work together in practice, so it isn't anything new," said Thorp of Kolesar and Winebold. "They performed exactly the way they needed to perform. It was very important because it changed (Brockway's) attitude. They had just come off of a goal themselves."
Later in the half, Eileen Geisler gave the Lady Tide a two-goal lead with just 23 minutes to play, drilling a shot from the left wing that eluded Brockway keeper Juliana Vokes.
With eight minutes to play, Bumbarger came through on a breakaway and blasted a shot that hit the sidebar and ricocheted into the goal to close the scoring.
Despite the three-goal victory, Thorp said there is plenty of work that needs to be done.
"We weren't touching the ball real well," he said. "That's something we have to work on throughout the whole season. If we can improve on that, I see us going a long way."
Curwensville improved its record to 4-0.
They Lady Tide is back in action Saturday morning at the Manfredo Tournament at DuBois Central Catholic. Curwensville faces Smethport at 9 a.m.
Curwensville 4, Brockway 1
First Half
1. Kelsey Greslick, C, (Heather Thorp), 7:26.
Second Half
2. Julianna Esposito, B, (unassisted), 45:05.
3. Krista Kolesar, C, (Mackenzie Winebold), 49:04.
4. Eileen Geisler, C, (unassisted), 57:07.
5. Tiara Bumbarger, C, (unassisted), 72:39.
Shots: Brockway 4, Curwensville 22.
Saves: Brockway (Juliana Vokes, Delaney McMeekin) 14, Curwensville (Tiffany Carter) 2.
Corner kicks: Brockway 0, Curwensville 8.
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