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West Branch girls blank P-O, 2-0
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
By Jon Christoff Sports Writer
PHILIPSBURG - West Branch soccer coach Clark Dale has the same two goals for his Lady Warriors each time they take to the field - play aggressive from the onset and score the first goal.
Check and check.
West Branch got on the board in the seventh minute of Monday's contest with rival Philipsburg-Osceola and dictated the tempo through the first half en route to 2-0 win in Philipsburg.
Liz White got the Lady Warriors on the board, and Emilee Hoffower added a booming shot outside the 18 to account for the tallies.
"It's so big," said Dale of scoring the early goal. "Rivalry games always come down to momentum and, to get that first goal, kind of set the tone for the game.
"I tell the girls every game that we want to score first and score often. It doesn't always happen, but that's what we're shooting for."
West Branch's uptempo play forced the Lady Mounties on their heels after the hosts had the first scoring chance of the game.
After Lady Warrior keeper Javannah Klingler snuffed out P-O's opportunity, her offense rewarded her with the first of her seven saves in the contest.
West Branch's Christie Sabol weaved through the Lady Mountie defense, and P-O keeper Carley Hahn came out to meet her.
Hahn positioned herself in front of Sabol's foot and blocked the shot, but the ball somehow snuck through and White was there to polish it off.
"We had quite a few opportunities," Dale said. "We moved the ball well today and got some good shots. We had some that were wide, too, but I was happy with the way they played.
"We're starting to get some girls back who were injured, so hopefully things will turn around here."
West Branch added an insurance goal late in the half, as Hoffower sent a booming shot off her left foot toward Hahn.
Hoffower's shot was well beyond the 18 and was perfectly placed to where Hahn had no chance to get a hand on it.
"West Branch is always a big rivalry," said P-O assistant coach Jeff Powell, "and the girls know one another. (The early goal) was hard on them, but I was glad to see that we came back (in the second half) and played good soccer.
"We came out flat today. We played extremely well on Saturday against Central Mountain ... but we came out today and we were flat to start with. We gave up the early goal, but the second goal there was nothing we could do. It was a great shot."
Powell's halftime adjustments consisted of one thing - preaching a better effort in the second half.
And put forth a better effort his Lady Mounties did.
The second half was dictated strictly by P-O, which registered six shots to just two from the Lady Warriors.
In almost each instance, the Lady Mounties had a chance to sneak one past Klingler, but no one succeeded.
"For us, it wasn't about what people we had in what positions," Powell said of his halftime adjustments. "We needed to just execute what we were capable of. We delivered that message to them and had the captains talk to them. They needed to find their own motivation, and they did.
"We had some opportunities (to get on the board) and we didn't. Bottom line, West Branch came out ready to play and scored two early goals. It was late in the game until we got ourselves put together."
Jordyn Powell had several golden opportunities for P-O, including a shot past an oncharging Klingler with 13 seconds left in the contest.
Like three other shots in the half, Powell was just wide of her mark.
"We had some problems getting in front of the ball," said Dale. "We stress not giving anybody a clean look (at the net) and, for the most part, we were able to do that. I think they had one or two quality shots that sailed wide. If they get a goal, then that changed the momentum and we're back in a fight again.
"Javannah has really done well, and our defense has really been playing well. Delanie Kolesar really stepped up and had a big part in this game, as did Rebeka Golding. It was a total team effort."
Each team finished the contest with eight shots on frame.
Hahn finished the day with five stops to her credit.
West Branch (6-6) hosts Moshannon Valley on Thursday, while P-O (4-6) travels to Bellefonte the same afternoon.
"I'm glad the girls could take something away from this game," coach Powell said, "in that they played really well in the second half. We had a lot more opportunities ... we just didn't get them finished." West Branch 2, Philipsburg-Osceola 0
First Half
1. Liz White, (Christie Sabol), 6:22.
2. Emilee Hoffower, (unassisted), 34:59.
Shots: West Branch 8, Philipsburg-Osceola 8.
Saves: West Branch (Javannah Klingler) 7, Philipsburg-Osceola (Carley Hahn) 5.
Corners: West Branch 1, Philipsburg-Osceola 4.
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