Cosmos battle, shake a game Fair Haven

While the young Fair Haven girls soccer team was a 2-0 loser to undefeated Springfield on Monday at Gurney Field, the Slaters made a game of it until the Cosmos got a late second-half goal to put a lock on the Marble Valley League contest.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100921/SPORTS/709219905                  Cosmos battle, shake a game Fair Haven  •  Rutland Herald  •  By POODY WALSH Herald Correspondent - Published: September 21, 2010  •  SPRINGFIELD — While the young Fair Haven girls soccer team was a 2-0 loser to undefeated Springfield on Monday at Gurney Field, the Slaters made a game of it until the Cosmos got a late second-half goal to put a lock on the Marble Valley League contest.  •  The 3-0 Cosmos, coming off an emotional 2-1 win over Woodstock on Friday, were a little flat, thought first year coach Christian Craig.  •  “Still we should have been able to finish a little better than we did,” he said.  •  Not finishing was the story of the day as Springfield was knocking on the door all afternoon with a 12-2 edge in shots and 11-1 in corners.  •  However, the only statistic that mattered was the score and it was 0-0 until 10 minutes into the second half when Springfield junior Liza Fountain, who would figure in both goals, sent a corner into the zone. The ball took a couple of short hops before Amanda Farnsworth squirted the ball past Slaters senior keeper Megan Wooster, who had 10 saves and was a force in the cage.  •  “She’s a really talented keeper,” Fair Haven coach Peter Roach said. “She’s been keeping us in games all year.”  •  Fair Haven, 1-4, also took a defensive blow when stopper Jenna Sharron had to leave the game early in the second half with a knee injury.  •  “That certainly didn’t help us,” said Roach, who like Craig, is in his first season as head coach.  •  Roach said he made some changes as he tried to get more offense into the game after Springfield scored its first goal, but it was Springfield that got the next score on one of those impossible-to-stop shots. It was a direct kick from Fountain just outside the 18 that sailed over the leap of Wooster and under the crossbar.  •  “That was just a real good shot,” Roach said. “Springfield has some players with real good skills.”  •  Fair Haven’s scoring opportunities were few, but the Slaters had a dandy with 15 minutes to go when sophomore Shelby Hall cleared on a breakaway and came across the right side of the 18. Springfield keeper Lauren Bolduc left the cage and dove to her left as Hall fired. Bolduc just got her fingertips on the ball, but it was enough to knock the shot off its mark and keep it a 2-0 game.  •  The first half was 40 minutes of frustration for the Cosmos as they had a solid transition game and kept pressure on the Fair Haven defense. Only the play of Wooster and some not-so-lucky shooting kept the game scoreless at the break.  •  Among the many chances was a shot by freshman Sara Locke, who had a lot of net to shoot at, but was off the mark.  •  “How did I miss that,” she wondered when she returned to the bench. But Locke was not the only Cosmo to let opportunity slip away. An Emma Esty’s cross went right across the goal mouth to junior midfield Holly Hooke, who couldn’t convert. Desmond Dana drifted a ball across the front that Amanda Farnsworth tracked down, but couldn’t find the range.  •  Fair Haven hosts Middlebury Wednesday while Springfield is at Brattleboro on Thursday.  •