Springfield stuns Brattleboro

It was not the way Edwin de Bruijn and his Brattleboro girls soccer team wanted to welcome in the autumn season at their home field.

http://www.reformer.com/ci_16163103

Springfield stuns BUHS

By DOMENIC POLI, Reformer Staff • Friday, September 24 2010

BRATTLEBORO - It was not the way Edwin de Bruijn and his Brattleboro girls soccer team wanted to welcome in the autumn season.

BUHS dropped a 2-0 game to Springfield at Tenney Field on Thursday - the very first day of fall. The defeat handed the Colonels a 4-2-1 record and gave them a wake-up call, senior co-captain Ariel Kane said.

"I think we were slacking a little bit in our play," she said after the game. "In past years, we've always come into this game looking at it as a pretty easy win. But this year I think we might have come in too confident."

The Cosmos' Sarah Locke, a freshman, pocketed both of her team's goals - one with 16:04 left in the game and the other with 2:35 remaining.

The matchup was deadlocked for most of the night, as neither team could seem to find the back of the net. No real scoring threat materialzed until almost 15 minutes into the game. Kane gained possession of the ball on the right side of the Springfield's penalty box and passed it toward the middle to co-captain Taylor Kerylow, whose shot was stopped by Cosmos goalkeeper Alaina Orth.

It was almost another 10 minutes before the Colonels got their next chance to score. Sophomore Leah Short looked to put the first point on the scoreboard with 16:40 remaining in the first half but her shot went wide right.

The ball spent the rest of the game in limbo and when halftime rolled around, the game was still scoreless.

De Bruijn said he was happy with how his players performed in the initial 40 minutes.

"I think the girls created enough chances in the first half ... and Springfield had no opportunities in the first half," he said. "But if you don't score, you make it very difficult for yourself."

Junior Maddie Hawes started the game as the Colonels' goalkeeper but senior Caitlyn Wood played the second half.

Sophomore Halie Lange took a shot almost seven minutes into the second half but Orth was there to stop it. About three minutes later, Springfield's Liza Fountain smacked a ball that just sailed over the crossbar. Lange was awarded an indirect free kick about 13 minutes into the half, but she sent it over the goal. With 16:40 to go in the game, Fountain sent an indirect free kick of her own over the crossbar. But just 36 seconds later, a ball came bouncing toward Wood, who made the decision to go get it. As she was backpedaling to grab it on the bounce, she fell over backward and the ball went over her body. Despite her teammates making a pursuit for the ball, Locke got to it first and tapped it in for the game's first tally - which made all the Cosmos supporters on the sidelines go crazy.

BUHS made several attemts to even the score, including a nicelooking header by Kerylow that was blocked by Orth.

Locke then scored her second goal with 2:35 left, which seemed to deflate the Colonels.

De Bruijn said the shutout was upsetting but that his squad just couldn't get anything going.

"It happens in soccer. If you don't score, you don't win," he said. "(The Cosmos) impressed me ... they worked hard and put pressure on our defense and our midfield and it was hard for us to move the ball a lot."

Kane said overconfidence will be a thing of the past for the Colonels and that they won't underestimate any other team on their schedule.

BUHS is scheduled to play at Minnechaug Regional High School (in Wilbraham, Mass.) at 4 p.m. on Wednesday