The Great American JV Novella

After a rough start, the JV Girls Soccer team has had a great October.  Channon House-Longman and Jennifer Counts give us the scoop.

Oak Hills vs. Wyoming
We knew we were in trouble in the September 30th JV Girls Soccer game when Oak Hills scored within the first 20 seconds, and then had 3 quick, unconverted shots, saved by Freshman Goalie Sarah Woodruff.  Wyoming fought hard, and challenged Oak Hills every step of the way.  Greta Warmbier led the first Wyoming charge down the field, but the Oak Hills Goalie was able to scoop up the ball before a shot could be taken.    Ava Schuler placed a nice corner directly in front of the goal, which was subsequently cleared by Oak Hills.     Then Lauren Longman had a pretty turn to stop yet another Oak Hills charge.    Wyoming held Oak Hills until 15 minutes in, when they had a break-away run and nice shot increasing their lead to 0-2.   Next there were several opportunities by the Cowboys that were cleared by the Oak Hills girls.  Goalie Sarah Woodruff had a great save, followed up by a hard shot just off the outside of the goal bar by Ava Schuler with 33 seconds left in the half.

The Cowboys continued aggressive play for the second half and prevented Oak Hills from scoring again.  Freshman defender Maegan Burck had a long shot at the 40 yard line; it was off goal, but so much fun to see.   Ava Schuler scored off a free kick with less than 15 minutes in the game.  In the end,  Wyoming fell to Division 1 Oak Hills 1-2.

McNicholas vs. Wyoming
We knew we were in trouble…. wait, isn’t that how the last game’s write-up started?    It did . . . .  anyway, the October 5th, JV Girls Soccer game vs  McNicholas was the toughest the team had played this year.   In warm-ups, superstar Freshman Goalie Sarah Woodruff took a hard ball to the head and needed to be evaluated for a concussion prior to returning to play.   Fortunately, the JV coaches had a secret back-up goalie in the wings and Freshman Lauren Longman, normally a Midfielder, stepped in as Goalie with barely any warning or warm-up.  In the first 5 minutes, Goalie Lauren Longman had 3 saves – 1  a very high shot, she just managed to pull down, way over her head, the other a nice hard shot to the corner, the third an easy one to the corner (whew).     McNick’s dominance continued; in the first half McNick had 6 on goal shots, and 10 off goal shots and the ball rarely made it past the 50 yard line into McNick’s defensive territory.    The Rockets had spectacular throw ins . . . several from the sidelines to well past the center of the field.  The Wyoming defense had a spectacular team-effort to clear many, many shots.    Wyoming pushed back against this strong team, starting with a corner by Ava Schuler, which led to two solid shots by Isabelle Jones – the second just inches over the goal.  With just 20 seconds left in the half, McNick took a picture perfect corner and scored off a header near the far post, top of the net.

The Rockets continued to dominate possession and shots in the second half, but the Wyoming team pulled together and had more chances.  The Rockets scored 10 minutes into the second half and then almost immediately again off a corner (and yet another header), bringing the score to 0-3.   The Wyoming defense was anchored by Sophomore Isabelle Jones, who had several nice take-aways and prevented any additional scores.     A tough loss, against a tough team.    McNicholas over Wyoming 3-0.

Wyoming vs. Reading
The JV Girls Soccer team triumphed over the Reading Blue Devils on October 7th.  The Cowboys dominated possession and shots during the match and Sarah Woodruff was back in goal after sitting out the last game.  It’s been a while since the girls played on a grass field and it took some time to prepare for the random bounces the ball took.     Within the first 5 minutes Wyoming had shots from Ava Schuler, Allie Trenkamp, Maddy Counts and Ambar Alvarez-Garcia.     The shots continued, we saw several nice crosses from the Wyoming Midfield (Ambar Alvarez-Garcia, Lauren Longman, and Erica Hill), and we knew a goal was on its way.  The first Wyoming goal was scored by Lydia Hock after several touches off a corner kick put in play by Maddy Counts with about 5 minutes remaining in the first half.  The Cowboys got to practice our throw-ins with Sydney Kuhn and Maegan Burck both taking several during the match (10? 20? 30!)

The second half, the Blue Devils applied more pressure, but it was insufficient.  There were some changes to the line-up and Caroline Meis moved up from defense to an offensive position.  The second half saw many shots from the entire offensive line; Hannah Stoppenhagen, Annah Saladonis, , Isabelle Jones and Caroline Meis added their names to the shot list.  Wyoming’s second and final goal was scored by Allie Trenkamp off a corner by Caroline Meis.    Congratulations go to the defensive line,  goalie Sarah Woodruff was granted the right to touch the ball only twice during the game.   The game is recorded as a win for the Cowboys, 2-0.

Wyoming vs. Amelia
The JV girls soccer game versus the Amelia Barons started quickly on October 12th with a shot on goal by Maddy Counts.   The Barons fought back quickly and were the most physical team we faced this season (we aren’t used to seeing so many girls bouncing around), but Karma kicked in and the Cowboys were able to defend the shot.   Sam Rathbone bounced back as expected.   Next up, a foul was called against Amelia, for roughing up Ava Schuler.   Caroline Meis took the direct kick, it was beautiful, but the Cowboys were not able to score.    The first half saw many solid plays, from Lydia Hock’s cross in front of the goal, to a pretty header from Allie Trenkamp to Amber Alvarez-Garcia, but the Cowboys just could not score.  Amelia came back down the field, with a ‘bit’ of a push to Caroline Meis, leading to a break-away, saved by Goalie Sarah Woodruff.     With just under 4 minutes left in the half, Wyoming charged back with a goal from Maddy Counts that popped into the net out of the goalie’s reach.   1-0 Cowboys at the end of the first half.

The second half started off quickly, with the Cowboys matching the physical play of the Barons and the Baron’s earning a direct kick at Wyoming’s 40 yard line – it was a beautiful kick, by their top notch center defender, fortunately just off goal.   Maegan Burck had a hard fought clear, the Barons earned a corner.    The  ball came in fast and hard from the corner, but fortunately hit the top of the goal.  Wyoming continued to dominate shots and possession in the beginning of the second half, with a nice steal  from Maegan Burck, a quick, shot from Hannah Stoppenhagen, a bicycle kick from Allie Trenkamp and a fun ‘back kick’ towards goal from Greta Warmbier.  Wyoming earned a corner at the 23rd minute, taken by Maddy Counts.   Off the corner, Lauren Longman had two on-goal shots in less than 30 seconds, the first stopped by defense crowding the box, the second scooped by the Amelia goalie (who had several saves during the match).   More entertainment towards the end of the game with Meredith Ogle, Anna Saladonis, Lauren Longman, Allie Trenkamp and Maddy Counts with spectacular steals, Sarah Woodruff with another great save, Isabelle Jones may have been mugged, and a beautiful goal line cross to Ambar from Allie.  In the last minutes the tide started to turn, with the Baron’s pushing down the field hard, earning a corner kick.    With 28 seconds left, the Barons had a solid corner kick, which flew past the center of the goal, we all held our breath, but it went straight to Hannah Stoppenhangen.   Hannah quickly cleared to ensure the win.    Wyoming with the win 1-0.