After a PK shootout victory for the boys, it was the girls turn to battle for a County Championship. Being the second game for both teams in one day, neither team was too threatening off the bat. About 15 minutes into the game, a mis communication error led to the opening goal by the Rebels after Halle Freihofer made the initial save. Just minutes later, Melissa Snider found her first goal of the year to tie the match at 1-1. Then minutes before halftime, Claire Kelley put away the second goal off a Elise DeTrude corner kick.
The first 20 minutes of the second half became very physical with both teams fighting to win the game. Roncalli equalized just past the halfway mark of the second half. But it did not take long for us to get the lead back as Maddie Malatestinic was brought down in the box which allowed DeTrude to step up and convert the penalty.
Just a minute later, DeTrude found her second goal of the night with a looping shot over the goalkeeper off a Elly Hahn corner kick. about four minutes later Kelly Rodman capped off the scoring with an excellent goal from outside the box to set the score at 5-2.
The Lady Braves are County Champs for the first time since 2001!
Beating a team twice in the same year is always tough. This game was no different as Warren Central does a really good job of competing with any team it faces. Although we clearly possessed the ball for a majority of the game, we were not getting numbers in the box like we needed to in order to be a threat in the first half. We came out in the second half more aggressive getting forward and attacking the goal a lot better. Maddie Malatestinic was very dangerous out on the flank putting multiple balls into the box for us. Elise DeTrude had a few quality attempts on goal but could not find the net. With nearly 15 minutes left, Elly Hahn found the ball in the box and turned onto goal. A well hit ball found the net which ended up being the game winner. The defense and goalkeeper did their job once again in keeping a clean sheet.
The Braves will face Roncalli in the finals as Brebeuf looks to win its first County Championship since 2001.
Game Stats
North Central
The second round game of the County Tournament was against a very tough opponent in North Central. We really wanted to make sure we kept the ball as much as possible to prevent them from getting into the attack too much. It took about the first ten minutes for both teams to settle in and get comfortable. We then began to controll the ball a bit more which allowed us to set the tone. Nearly halfway through the first half, Rachel Dill took a long distance shot that snuck underneath the goalkeeper for a 1-0 lead. Ten minutes into the second half, Maddie Malatestinic served a cross in where Claire Kelley slipped it on to the back post to Amanda Repass who put it away for a 2-0 lead. A very disciplined defense did a good job of keeping the Panther forwards in front of them for a majority of the game. Halle Friehofer came up with big saves multiple times to earn her shutout for the night.
Game Stats
Pike
We received a tough draw for the County Tournament with Pike in the 1st round, a team we beat 2-1 at the very beginning of the season. It is always tough to beat the same team twice in the same season, so we knew we would have to be at our best.
For the third game in a row, we came out with a lot of energy. It was only five minutes in when Elise DeTrude got the scoring started with a free kick put in off the crossbar. At the 18th minute, DeTrude was involved again as her corner kick found Claire Kelley who made it 2-0. Then, just seconds before halftime, Courtney Burks netted her first goal of the year off another set piece by DeTrude. We really controlled the first half with the majority of play in our opponents half.
Pike showed they were not done as they came out in the second half with the intention to get right back in the game. Our girls decided to get back into the game after 10 minutes which is when we found our fourth and best goal of the game. Maddie Malatestinic combined with DeTrude down the right flank where she then served in an excellent ball to Claire Kelley who headed it away for her second goal of the game. Anna Malatestinic topped off the score sheet with a good shot from distance in the 70th minute.
Game Stats